


Smoking Gun

by CrossingTheFourthWall



Series: Maria's Adventures [20]
Category: Transformers: Prime, Trigun
Genre: (starting from Trigun Maximum), (who am I kidding -- this is Trigun), Gen, Some death, following the manga, plot divergence, some characters who were meant to die do not, yes there are a lot of OCs involved in this but not all of them get equal screentime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-03-08 15:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 83,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13461054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrossingTheFourthWall/pseuds/CrossingTheFourthWall
Summary: Untold light years from Earth, an untold time in the future, two insurance women come across the remains of a colony ship. Inside, a young woman awakes and becomes mixed up in the narrative involving two brothers and their opposing sides in a war of their own creation. How much will the tide of war change simply because a single, ancient-but-yet-not being got herself involved?





	1. Wake-Up Call

Sandstorms were terrible.

Of course, everyone knew that, but Meryl was _really_ aware of it now.

“If I have to be stuck out in a sandstorm like this one more time in my career I’m _really_ going to make sure that I stay put in my office for the rest of my life!” the short, dark-haired woman ranted.

Especially since she and her partner were stuck in a cave waiting for the storm to blow over so they could keep going in looking for a missing person who had recently – probably – hopefully – turned up not-so-missing.

“It’s not that bad out here, Meryl,” the taller of the two women spoke up. “At least we were able to find shelter in time!”

Meryl growled between her teeth. “I know, Millie, but I _wish_ that the weather didn’t have to work against us for once in our lives! We have to get to Vash!”

“Well, yes, but—“

Meryl slammed a fist into a cave wall. “If I find out that he’s—“

_Clang!_

Meryl stopped short and cursed loudly as she pulled her hand away from the wall, shaking out the stinging sensation in the side of her fist. She hissed through her teeth, then paused. “Wait. That wasn’t a _rock_ wall, that’s a _metal_ one.” She started tapping against the walls again, frowning. “Millie, do you have a light—“

Millie flicked a lighter on. “I always keep one with me in case we run into Pastor-san again!”

Meryl gave her partner a deadpan look, then snatched the lighter from the other’s hands. “Of course you do. Well, at least there’s a chance of running into him again at this rate.”

“I know, right??”

Meryl shook her head, but smiled a little as she held the lighter up to the wall to get a better look, since the sandstorm outside blocked out a good deal of the light. “Metal panels…this must be –“

There was a loud clunking sound on the other side of the cave, followed by Millie letting out an “oop!” before lights flickered on.

Meryl was startled enough to nearly drop the lighter. “Oh! There must be a Plant still – wait.” She whirled sharply on Millie. “Millie! _This is a part of one of the colony ships!”_

“Well, it would have to be if it was made out of metal,” Millie commented. “Or an old steamer that crashed….” She tapped her chin, then looked around. “Well, do you want to see if there’s anything else to this ship?”

“I’d rather we didn’t end up getting into trouble with anything that might still be running in this place,” Meryl responded. “You remember those robots that Wolfwood and Vash had to fight off that one time, right?”

“Oh, yeah! Well, if there were any here, we’d end up seeing some by now, wouldn’t we?”

Meryl was about to object, but then she held up a finger and paused to consider that.

The area was quiet – except for the howling sandstorm back at the entrance to their shelter, which was only a few yards from where they were standing. If there _was_ any sort of security system to this place, it probably _would_ have reached them by now.

Especially since Meryl had been making all sorts of noise before that. She winced at the thought of her temper.

_I have to work on reining that in._

“Well, no use standing around over here,” Millie said cheerily. She started to move deeper into the large, alien steel cavern.

“H-hey! Millie, we don’t know—“

“Come on! These things have been abandoned for years; might as well have a look around.” Millie was already heading deeper into the weather-beaten ruins, towards a door that looked like it had been wrenched open as a result of the crash.

“Millie, wait!” Meryl quickly ran after her, glancing back over her shoulder at the two tomas they’d rented for their trip across the desert. The two bird-like mounts looked fine where they were, tied down near the cave’s entrance, and considering the sandstorm there wasn’t all that much of a chance of bandits….

Meryl gripped one of her pistols, then moved to follow after Millie and deeper into the remains of the colony ship.

“Do you think the sandstorms out here unearthed this thing?” Meryl asked as Millie pushed the remains of the door aside. This lost technology had probably been lying here for the last one hundred fifty years… “It doesn’t look like it’s been gutted by the towns that are located nearby.”

Millie hummed as they moved down the smaller corridor on the other side of the door.

“Was probably buried by the sand around here and then unearthed because of the sandstorms….” Meryl looked around at the doors they passed by. They looked like they were sealed shut, and there was no way that either one of them was going to tear them open in order to figure out what lay on the other side.

“We’ll have to alert the next town over,” Meryl commented. “They’d probably want a Plant and the lost technology here to help things run better for a little while.” Lost in thought as she was, she didn’t realize that Millie had stopped until she had bumped into the taller woman. “Millie! What—“

“I don’t think it’d be a good idea if we went any further,” Millie said, faintly.

Meryl frowned, then moved around her taller friend in order to get a look at what it was that had stopped her so suddenly.

In front of them was a metal door that looked like it had been jarred open from the crash. On it in faded red paint were the letters “R&D.”

Meryl blinked, then frowned. “R&D? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Millie said nervously.

There came a hissing sound from the other side of the door, causing the two women to stiffen sharply. It sounded like something was opening up somewhere in the room on the other side of the falling-apart door.

 _“Maybe_ we should—“

There came a muffled groan from the other side, cutting Meryl off.

“Where do we go?” Millie asked worriedly. “There’s a sandstorm outside and – and – and _something_ in—“

“We can’t exactly face the sandstorm, with how strong it is now.” Meryl reached under her coat and gripped one of her pistols. “Looks like we can get ourselves into as much trouble as _he_ does.”

Meryl’s grip tightened on her pistol as the sound of footsteps stumbled about in the other room, followed shortly by a _very human_ yelp and the sound of someone colliding into something.

 _“Gah! What the –“_ There was a hiss of curses as something hopped around on the other side of the door.

Meryl and Millie exchanged cautious looks, then moved forward, Meryl first, pistol out and ready as she squeezed past the door and made her way into the room on the other side.

The “R&D” room – whatever that had meant – was chock full of lost technology that normally littered the sandstone ground near the Plants that helped keep the towns alive with food and water, among other things. It looked like a lot of it had been damaged or destroyed in the crash, but there were some things that were still – strangely – intact.

Like an open, pod shaped-container that was in one corner of the room, and a teenage girl with brown hair rubbing a boot-covered foot with an expression of discomfort.

There was a toppled computer near her, and it looked like the side of it had been _dented_ , but that wasn’t what Meryl was focusing on.

“Oh! Are you all right?” Millie quickly pushed the door aside and moved into the room, going straight for the teenage girl, who looked up in surprise at Millie’s voice. “You weren’t hurt by—“

“I-I’m fine.” The girl looked between them with confusion on her blue eyes. There were so shockingly bright that for a second Meryl found herself thinking about Vash’s—

Nope. Nope, she wasn’t going to think about him right now, they’d just found a _girl, alone,_ in a _crashed colony ship._

And if there was that pod lying there, _open…._

The girl lowered her foot, tapping it against the metal floor a couple times. Besides the red boots she was wearing, Meryl found the rest of her clothes odd: trousers made of a blue material, and a short orange jacket and red shirt that were probably made of something they didn’t have access to in No Man’s Land.

“Who are you two?” the girl asked, frowning. “The pods aren’t supposed to open until Joshua and I scout out the area and make sure everything’s a-ok.”

“Pods?” Millie blinked in confusion, then giggled. “We didn’t come out of pods, silly! When a Mommy and a Daddy love each other very much—“

 _“Millie!”_ Meryl hissed, aghast. She looked over at the girl. “I’m sorry that—“

“I’ve already had the Talk,” the girl said blandly. “I may look like a kid, but I’m not _that_ young.”

Meryl and Millie blinked in surprise at the tone of the girl’s voice.

The girl sighed irritably. “I meant the _cyropods._ You know, the things that people were sleeping in when they left Earth to make a colony world somewhere? You two should still be in yours.”

Millie hummed, uncertain. “But…we _didn’t_ come out of pods. No one’s come out of pods in a long time.”

“Why would someone like you be tasked with making sure a colony world was okay, anyway?” Meryl asked, frowning. “You’re so…so young.”

“That’s because I’m – wait.” The girl looked between the two of them. “You didn’t come out of—“ She shook her head slowly. “That…no….but then that’s…”

The girl lunged for one of the computers that was still attached to the wall across the room and slammed her hands down into a couple dents in the dash that looked strangely like they were hand-shaped. “Come on, come on—nononononononono!” She pulled back and started pulling at her hair, expression paling sharply. “Of all the – what happened to the flagship?! There’s no way that _this_ planet could have been chosen to – gah, and I can’t check to see who was last awake, either!” The girl groaned in frustration and ran a hand over her face. “Well, _this_ is just great. First they tell me I _have_ to go into cold sleep and now some _moron_ crashed us on a desert planet with very few resources. And on top of that….”

She trailed off and hugged herself, pulling back a little towards the pod as she looked away from the two women. One hand moved up and covered her mouth.

“Belle, I…I’m sorry.”

Meryl and Millie exchanged looks as the strange girl looked away from the two of them, shoulders shaking with repressed sobs.

“Um…” Millie moved forward slowly. “Neither one of us really knows what’s going on, so maybe you could explain…? You…you are one of the people who got on these ships way back in the beginning, right?”

The girl looked over at Millie and sniffled a little. She quickly wiped a wetness away from her eyes and nodded, gaining a more serious expression. “Y-yeah, sure. I can do that.” She took in a breath and regained the composure she’d lost in her panic. “My name is Maria Carlsdale. My cousin Joshua Langstrom and I were selected to be the ones who made sure any planets we found were habitable for humans. He got to be the one who jumped from the flagship to the other ships to make sure that everything was running smoothly and that there wasn’t anything that would jeopardize the journey.” She gained an annoyed expression. “They thought I’d be too much of a liability and stuck me in cold sleep because they didn’t like the rumors about my temper very much.”

Meryl and Millie both didn’t quite look like they were following, but Maria didn’t give them time to ask very many questions.

“If the colony ships ended up crash landing here and losing contact with each other – and releasing or…” Maria trailed off, then shook her head. “Then that means that something must have gone wrong with the flagship. With the – the power couplings that worked with the Plants or the programming in the computers –“ She paused. “Wait. _Belle._ The power is still – then that might mean –“

She scrambled out of the room with an intent expression that one might find on a woman with a mission – which, now that Maria had talked enough, Meryl realized that she _had_ to be just barely considered an adult.

“Wait!” Millie ran after Maria, causing Meryl to pull herself out of her thoughts and run after them. “Where are you going?”

“To check on Belle!” Maria called back. “She’s got to be around here somewhere if there’s still power in this part of the ship!” She ran down the corridor, then turned a corner and stopped in front of another sealed door.

“Who’s Belle?” Meryl asked, frowning. “What does she have to do with the power you—“

Maria grabbed the door and tore it out of its position, causing the two women to stiffen in shock at how easily the metal screeched aside under her fingers. She looked back at them, breathing a little more heavily, but not like she was about to fall at any moment.

“She’s the Plant,” Maria replied. “And a good friend of mine.”

The young woman turned and took off down the new corridor, lights flickering a little as she went.

“She named the Plant?” Millie asked in confusion. “Earthlings must have been strange people.”

“She probably thinks that we’re the strange ones,” Meryl muttered. “Come on!”

The two of them reached the large room at the end of the corridor seconds after Maria did; she was already up against the flickering bulb that housed the Plant by the time they arrived.

“Isn’t it a little bit dangerous to be that close?” Meryl asked as Maria put her hands against the glass. “The radiation that can—“

“Belle, are you okay?”

Meryl stopped when Maria spoke over her and gritted her teeth in some annoyance.

Something moved in the bulb, and the glass cleared up suddenly, revealing…

Well, the _best_ way to describe the figure was that they were female, and possibly some kind of angel. But there wasn’t just one pair of wings – there were _multiple._ And it wasn’t just one body – if you looked around behind the female-like creature, one could see _more_ bodies growing off the back, like some human that had mutated to reproduce by budding.

The bright blue eyes and blond-framed face focused on Maria with a tired look of relief, which Meryl found surprising. She hadn’t expected that the Plants were capable of really feeling anything – just that they were able to use near-unlimited amounts of energy in order to provide everything that humans ever needed in order to survive.

Maria sighed in relief, but she didn’t say anything verbally as she looked at the Plant. Meryl was too busy watching them to see Millie move up to stand behind Maria with a quiet sort of expression.

Maria bowed her head and bumped it against the glass. It almost seemed like her’s and the Plant’s foreheads were touching, they were so close together.

That’s when Meryl noticed something about the Plant.

“It’s turning black!” Meryl yelped in alarm. “Her hair is—“

“I know,” Maria spoke aloud. Then, more quietly, almost unheard were it not for the echo of the quiet remains of the colony ship: “I’m sorry.”

The Plant shook her head, then pulled back, putting a hand over Maria’s head. She focused in concentration for a moment, then closed her eyes as her hair turned completely black.

This wasn’t a Final Run like what Meryl was used to seeing from Plants, when they tried to get as much energy as possible out of them. This was more…peaceful.

The creature in the bulb slumped against the glass and fell limp, her hand sliding down and away from Maria’s face.

Maria stepped back a little, removing her head from its contact with the bulb but putting a hand where the Plant’s had fallen to.

“Good-bye, my friend,” Maria said quietly as the lights died. “You will be missed.”

Millie started bawling loudly, causing Maria to jump and whirl around like she had been poked in the back with a toma prod. “I-I didn’t th-th-think a Pl-Pl—“

“H-hey!” Maria yelped, sounding annoyed.

“Oh! Sorry.” Meryl could hear Millie moving back a little. A loud sniff echoed through the chamber. “I j-just get a little e-emotional.”

 _Little nothing._ Meryl rolled her eyes, but she still felt troubled at least a little bit by what she had just seen. A human had treated the Plant as a _friend._ And it looked like the Plant had seen her the same way?

Just what about them did they not quite understand, even after having lived and used them for so long?

The sound of Maria’s boots hitting the stairs and coming back down to Meryl shook her out of her thoughts.

“There’s nothing else for me here,” Maria said as she came to a stop a short distance away from Meryl. “Without Belle being able to run even emergency power, the cyropods opened as soon as we landed. She was the only one who was left running this place, and they didn’t know where she was. I guess I should count myself lucky, because she was the only one running the research and development labs.”

“So _that’s_ what R &D means!” Millie exclaimed.

“What did you _think_ it meant?”

“Well—“

“That doesn’t matter,” Meryl said quickly, cutting Millie off before she could go into something else. “Let’s get back to the tomas. This place is giving me the creeps.”

The three of them made their way back to the cave-like entrance into the colony ship, moving hand-over-hand against the walls in order to make sure they didn’t lose their way or each other. The sandstorm was still going when they reached the place where the tomas were tied to a piece of metal that was jutting out of the wall. They skittered a little as the three of them got close.

Maria slowed to a stop as Meryl and Millie looked the two animals over. “Those are…tomas?”

“Yup!” Millie replied cheerily. “We can use them to ride everywhere.”

“…huh. So it mustn’t be _completely_ a desert.” Maria looked the creatures over, then approached the large birds cautiously. “Kind of looks like a cross between an ostrich and a turkey.”

“A what?” Meryl looked at her blankly.

Maria blinked, then sighed and shook her head. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She walked over to a wall and sat down with her back to it, watching the sandstorm outside.

Meryl and Millie looked over at her, then exchanged worried looks. Maria – whoever she was, whatever it was she hadn’t told them yet – had fallen into cold sleep on Earth, then woken up just moments ago here. In No Man’s Land.

Hopefully they’d be able to find a place to drop her off and help her settle into life on this forsaken planet.

“Hey.”

Meryl looked over as Maria looked back at her.

“I introduced myself, but you two haven’t given me _your_ names yet.” Maria looked between the two of them with an unreadable expression. She almost looked…sad, but there was something else to her expression, too.

“Oh! How silly!” Millie moved to stand next to Meryl. “I’m Millie Thompson, and this is Meryl Stryfe. We’re employees of the Bernadelli Insurance Company!”

Maria raised an eyebrow. “Insurance agents? What are you two doing out here?”

“Well—“

“We’re tracking someone dangerous,” Meryl said. “Someone you definitely shouldn’t get involved with. We’re dropping you off at the nearest town so that someone—“

“Belle told me to find someone that she and her sisters trusted.”

Meryl blinked. “She told…?”

“Plants are just as intelligent as any other being that lives in our universe,” Maria said evenly. “I should know; I’ve been friends with Belle for a long time.”

Meryl stared, dumbfounded.

“Who is it?” Millie asked. Unlike Meryl, she seemed to be taking this all in stride.

Maria paused at the question, then looked up at them with a curious, almost calculating expression.

“Do you know anyone who goes by the name of Vash?”


	2. History Lesson

Meryl stared at Maria, flabbergasted.

“Vash?” Millie repeated. “How would a Plant down here be able to talk to other Plants about _him?”_

“It’s a hive mind thing, I think,” Maria replied. “So, you’ve heard of him?”

“Well—“

“We are _not_ taking you to him,” Meryl said quickly, talking over Millie. “He’s a dangerous man – the first natural human disaster in the history of the planet! No, in the history of the entire human race! Why would that Plant tell you to _go_ to him when he’s the reason there’s a hole in a moon and a whole city has been wiped out?!”

“Meryl!” Millie exclaimed sharply as Maria’s eyebrows shot up. Millie looked over at Maria and said quickly, “Vash-san didn’t mean for those things to happen – he can’t have. He is a kind man who would never kill anyone no matter what he had to do!”

Meryl looked like she was about to add on to Millie’s words with an equally angry rant, but Maria held up a hand first.

“Can you tell me what’s happened?” Maria asked. “I’m getting the feeling that I’m missing large chunks of a story. Millie and Belle said I can trust him, but you say that he’s dangerous, Meryl. What’s happened on this planet since the colony ships crashed? What is it about Vash that makes him dangerous enough that he can destroy a city and put a hole in a moon?”

Meryl blinked at the question, then looked over at Millie before looking back at the woman sitting on the ground in front of them.

She found it odd that Maria wasn’t visibly bothered by the sandstorm that was going on outside, and she didn’t seem to be all that bothered by the _heat_ coming in from outside, either.

Maybe she would be able to get some answers from Maria if she explained what was happening on the planet’s surface.

“Vash got onto our radar when July was wiped off the map,” Meryl said. “People who lived in the towns between July and its neighbors reported that there was only one survivor in the wreckage. Since that day 22 years ago, he’s been known as Vash the Stampede, because wherever he goes it looks like something stampeded through town and destroyed everything in sight without killing anyone.”

“Has he killed anyone?” Maria frowned.

“No!” Millie exclaimed.

“If you don’t count July, no,” Meryl corrected. “Which is…strange, for a wanted man. Normally they’re known for killing swaths of men, but Vash is only known for the destruction he’s caused.”

“I see.” Maria frowned, leaning forward a little. She pulled her knees up and rest her arm against one of them, frowning in thought. “So the only reason he’s wanted at all is because he’s a klutz?”

“That’s not – I mean – He’s got bounty hunters and all sorts of people after him that like to cause all sorts of trouble for him, too, so he isn’t _just_ a klutz!”

Maria smirked a little, as though she had been expecting that. The smirk dropped, however. “So where do you two come into all this?”

“We’re part of the Bernadelli Insurance Company!” Millie replied cheerily. “Mr. Bernadelli sent us after Vash-san to see if we could make an assessment of the damages he caused. Because we were losing money fast because of all the repairs and replacing of lost items that we had to take care of.”

“I see. If an _insurance_ company wants to get involved, then that means that he really must be causing a lot of damage, then.” Maria tilted her head slightly. “There are some insurance companies on Earth who did something similar sometimes. Were you two hired to do something like this?”

“Oh, no! We’re normally working in the office.”

“Millie! You didn’t need to tell her that!” Meryl felt flabbergasted at how much she was telling Maria. “Telling her _why_ they’re worried about Vash is okay, but you don’t need to tell her that we’re not normally supposed to do this kind of thing!”

“You’re talking to someone who knows absolutely nothing about this planet and who is living on it, much less what’s going on,” Maria pointed out. “I’m still trying to make sense of it all – it…kinda feels like I fell into another dimension in transit, instead of just ending up on a desert planet in some distant point of the galaxy.”

The two women looked at each other at Maria’s comment, then back at her.

“Well, we’re…what we’re doing hasn’t exactly had to have been done before,” Meryl said carefully. “Vash is the first time we’ve had to go out and do something like this. We haven’t _had_ anyone cause this much damage to anything before.”

“And whose fault is that, if Vash doesn’t kill anyone – even the people chasing after him? He sounds like a pacifist.”

“Well, his _friend_ certainly isn’t,” Meryl grumbled.

“What, Pastor-san?” Millie shook her head. “No, no, he’s nice! Although he does smoke a lot.”

“A pastor?” Maria’s eyebrows rose again. “A pastor of what?”

“He never told us.” Millie shrugged.

Meryl sighed irritably, remembering skinny, black-haired man with his suit and his cross. “Nicholas D. Wolfwood. He is the most annoying man that I’ve ever come across – second only to Vash because he still has a level head on his shoulders. I’m not sure I can entirely trust him, though…it seems almost like his secrets has secrets.”

“Pastor-san is trustworthy to me,” Millie said with certainty. “I’m looking forward to being able to see him again.”

Meryl grumbled something that neither Millie nor Maria was able to catch. Then she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Well, with our luck, we’re probably going to run into Vash and Wolfwood when they’re in trouble. Again.” She groaned at the thought.

Maria snorted, smirking. “Sounds like you two have been up to a lot. So, what happened when you met up with Vash? How did he change your perspective of him from seeing him as a bounty to hunt down to someone that you would be willing to trust?”

That was a loaded question – one loaded with history, at least.

“I hope you know what you’re asking for,” Meryl said. “Because we’re going to be sitting here for a long time.”

Maria motioned to the sandstorm still roaring outside of the crashed ship. “I think it’s safe to say we’ve got time, until the sandstorm either dies down or stops entirely.”

“Okay!” Millie plopped down on the floor, grinning.

“Millie!” Meryl said in alarm.

“What? If the Plant said that Maria had to look for Vash-san, she might as well know everything about him!” Millie looked up at Meryl. “Besides, if she decides to go looking for him anyway, she’s going to have to know everything about what’s going on outside.”

Meryl looked at Millie for a moment, then sighed and shook her head before sitting down on the metal floor as well. It felt unusually cool despite the heat of the planet. Maybe something from the Plant’s power was still affecting this place?

Or maybe it was just because they were technically in the shade right now. Meryl decided not to think about it.

“We first ran into Vash in a town where he was rumored to be,” Meryl said.

Millie giggled. “Meryl didn’t know who he was when we first saw him!”

“Millie!”

“Does he really look that ordinary?” Maria tilted her head slightly, considering. “If he’s got that high of a bounty, I’d think he’d want to stay hidden, I guess.”

Meryl snorted. “That’s part of his problem. He sticks out like a sore thumb. He’s got this bright red coat that you could spot from a mile off, and on _top_ of that his hair sticks up—“

“Like the bristles of a broom!” Millie finished. “All bright yellow and everything!”

Maria blinked a couple times, then snorted. “So he stands in a crowd and he gets mobbed?”

“No, no! He stands out in a crowd, but he doesn’t get noticed unless he starts waving a gun around!” Millie corrected cheerily. “Otherwise he plays with kids and talks to folks and buys things and gets things repaired, and no one pays any attention to him!”

“Huh.” Maria blinked a couple times, looking somewhere between surprised and confused, then shook her head and snickered. “Such a strange people we’ve become….” Her smile faded. She shook her head. “So – what sort of people have been after Vash? What’s happened on this world?”

It seemed to Meryl that Maria was trying to focus on Vash and what he was doing and what had happened to _him_ instead of thinking about herself and her new situation. She wasn’t sure if that was a good idea for a young woman to be doing, but if it helped her adjust…

…well, No Man’s Land was her home now, whether she liked it or not.

Meryl quickly launched herself into the story of how they’d found out that the blond buffoon was Vash because of a series of events involving an entire _town_ hunting for him, and a wanted man coming after his head as well on top of that.

From there, things only got darker much more quickly: Vash quickly throwing them away from him as often and as quickly as he could because he had to fight a group of people and didn’t want either one of them involved. Nicholas Wolfwood.

And then the blowing up of the fifth moon, and Vash’s disappearance for two years.

And now, Vash had been spotted again, traveling with Wolfwood. They’d already saved his life from a man who was planning on killing him, and now they were planning on tracking his movements and maybe – just maybe – running into him again.

“So, you’re basically following his movements?” Maria guessed after a moment.

“Somewhat.” Millie shrugged. “We’re technically on vacation, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do our jobs.” She grinned brightly.

“But we’re not going to be getting _paid_ for it,” Meryl grumbled in reply. She sighed. “But that’s to be expected when we’re going after a man who’s been labeled as the world’s first human natural disaster.”

“I wonder what it would take to get up to that point – without causing all the damage that Vash seems to cause wherever he goes,” Maria added quickly when she saw the wide-eyed look that Meryl sent in her direction.

“Please don’t do that, Maria-san,” Millie said. “The planet is a dangerous enough place to be already!”

“She doesn’t even have a weapon on her,” Meryl pointed out to Millie. “And I’m _not_ planning on giving you one.” She gave Maria a pointed look.

Maria blinked, then shrugged. “Fine. Like I need one anyway.”

“What – what kind of talk is that?!” Meryl stared at Maria. “Don’t tell me you’re like that samurai guy that Vash fought before—“

“No, not really. I’m not crazy enough to bring a sword to a gunfight.” Maria waved a hand. “I’ve fought against people with swords with nothing but what I am, though, so I know how dangerous they can be.”

_Nothing but what I am…?_

“What kind of an answer is—“

“If we ever end up running into trouble and I have to do something, you’ll find out.” Maria shrugged, appearing indifferent.

Meryl frowned at that. “That’s not all that much of an answer.”

“Well, it’s all you’re going to get now, I’m afraid. I don’t have much reason to trust you besides the fact that you know Vash and that you are the first people who I have met on this planet. You may have shown me kindness, but from what you’ve described you make it sound like there’s a chance that anyone I might run into could stab me in the back over one thing or another.”

Maria shifted slightly, looking away from the two of them and out at the sandstorm that was rushing past them.

“That doesn’t look like it’s letting up anytime soon,” she commented. “I’m going to rest up. I still feel groggy after being in cyrosleep for several centuries.”

With that, Maria closed her eyes without another word.

Meryl and Millie exchanged looks worriedly.

“I mean, she does have a valid point,” Millie said.

“But it sounds like we should be more cautious of _her,_ ” Meryl pointed out. “I mean, ‘what I am’? What kind of a statement is that?”

Millie shrugged. “Earth was probably a really strange place. Maybe she isn’t even human?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! She looks human!” Meryl paused at her own words.

“She can talk to Plants, like Vash-san can,” Millie pointed out, unusually serious. Her expression brightened a moment later. “We might be overthinking things, though! So let’s wait until Maria-san decides if she wants to tell us.” She leaned back against the metal wall behind her. “I’m going to sleep too.”

“Millie wai—“

It was too late, she was already asleep.

Meryl sighed irritably and shook her head. She would have to puzzle this out by herself for now.


	3. Tagging Along

Maria grunted as she was gently shaken by one of her shoulders, and she opened an eye and looked up at the figure who was disturbing her sleep.

“The sandstorm’s gone,” Millie said with a kind smile. “I haven’t woken up Meryl-san yet. I thought it would be a good idea if you were able to see what the planet looks like when the weather’s calm.”

Maria blinked at Millie’s statement, then nodded and pushed herself off the metal floor and up into a sitting position as Millie moved back to the bird-like mounts and where Meryl was curled up in the corner.

No Man’s Land. What a grim name for a planet. Still, Maria was glad to be able to see the sky again, despite the sand dunes that lay across the landscape below it. It was so blue, so bright.

But the fact that the landscape wasn’t _green_ wasn’t something that sat well with Maria.

“So, there’s not even a little bit of vegetation anywhere?” Maria asked.

“Oh, there’s some, but only in places where the Plants were able to do something.” Millie looked over at Maria, then quickly looked back at Meryl and started coaxing her awake again.

Maria nodded absently. She pulled her knees up to her chest and put her chest against them, watching the horizon.

 _No Man’s Land, huh? It certainly seems to fit._ _It feels so hot – even here in the shade._

Maria closed her eyes, feeling the warm air that was slowly moving in.

“All right, all right! I’m up, I’m up!”

Maria opened her eyes again and looked over as Meryl waved Millie off, pushing herself up into a sitting position. Her hair was going in all directions and was flat on one side.

“Good morning,” Millie said cheerily. “Maria-san’s already awake.”

Meryl looked over, locked eyes with Maria, and looked away quickly again. “I can see that. How much food do we have left?”

“There should be enough left for one meal between—“

“You don’t have to worry about getting me food,” Maria said quickly.

Meryl and Millie looked over at her.

“What are you talking about?” Millie frowned. “Everyone needs to eat – especially you! You just woke up, you must be hungry!”

“I don’t need it.” Maria shook her head. “Not as much as you do, and probably not on a planet like this.”

Now Meryl was frowning. “What do you mean by that?”

Maria considered the question, frowning slightly. She didn’t want to say more than she needed to – considering how the two of them reacted to Belle, she didn’t know how well the two of them would react to knowing more about her.

Knowing about what made her different.

“It’s because of what you said before, right?” Millie guessed. “How you and…your other friend? Joshua? Were supposed to have checked on the planet before the colony ships landed?”

Glad that Millie had come to that conclusion, Maria nodded. “Yeah. That’s part of it.”

“Well, if you do get hungry, let me know, okay? And I’ll get you something when we stop at the next town.”

Maria nodded. She noticed Meryl eyeing her with a curious look, but she decided against focusing on her.

Maria pushed herself up to her feet and looked over at the two tomas for a moment. “So, how far from the nearest hub of civilization are we?”

“Probably half a day,” Millie replied.

“It would have been two days if we had pressed through that sandstorm,” Meryl grumbled. She rose to her feet and rearranged her clothes to make herself look more decent. She looked over at the sand outside with a sour expression and sighed. “You may not have to eat as much, but water is probably going to be—“

“Actually, not as much in this weather.” Maria looked out at the sandy landscape again and looked back at Millie and Meryl. “I’m able to withstand warmer temperatures far better than most. So I can survive a landscape like this with minimal food and water and still come out fine, but anyone else who ended up somewhere—“

“Would end up dying of dehydration,” Meryl finished. “What kind of a person _are_ you, to be able to do something like that?”

Maria paused at the question, considering it. “I’m not sure if I want to tell you yet. But I’m…different, from a normal human. That’s really all you need to know right now.”

Meryl looked like she wanted to hit something with how tightly her fists were clenching, but she forced herself to calm down with a few deep breaths. Her fists were still clenched, however.

“I’m going to get the whole story from you,” Meryl said. “If you’re different, then you might already be a human natural disaster. We’ll keep an eye on you to make sure that you don’t cause any trouble or structural damage that could make the company lose money.”

Maria shrugged. “If you’re leading me to Vash and you did the same with him before, you can do as you like. You know more about this world than I do anyway.”

Maria really was indifferent to what the two women did at this point. She was the stranger here, not them; if she was going to be traveling with them, she couldn’t run off on her own and do whatever she wanted. Especially since she didn’t have a map of this world just yet.

“I think Maria-san will have to share your toma, Meryl-san,” Millie said. “I’m too big for there to be any room.”

Meryl frowned at that as Maria looked over at the two bird mounts and frowned.

“Actually, I’ve got something else.”

Meryl and Millie looked over at Maria.

“What do you mean?” Meryl asked.

“Is it lost technology?” Millie tilted her head slightly, curious.

“Lost for you, perhaps.” Maria reached around behind her. It seemed that her hand went under the orange jacket she was wearing, and when she pulled her hand back out into view again, she was holding a red and orange metal box.

She tossed it out in front of her, and the box unfolded quickly into a long board of metal. It hovered above the ground by two inches.

Meryl’s jaw dropped. “How – what – what is—“

“A hoverboard.” Maria stepped onto the metal board; it lowered a little as she put her weight on it, then adjusted quickly. “I can use this to travel long distances, but the charge varies depending on how far and how fast I’m going. I should be able to reach the closest town this way.”

“Wow!” Millie moved around Maria, getting a closer look at the device. “That’s incredible! Did your friend have one to?”

“Not when I first got mine.” Maria smirked a little. “He figured out how to make one of his own after a while, but he made sure that he did it on his own instead of asking me for help.”

“Why didn’t he—“

“He wanted the challenge.” Maria shrugged. “So, we going?”

“We’re going!” Millie confirmed cheerily. “Come on!” She swung herself on top of her toma and kicked it in the sides, sending it screeching out into the desert. Meryl quickly moved to mount and shoot out after Millie, and Maria shot after them, sending up a wave of dust and sand behind her.

As soon as Maria was out into the open under the harsh sunlight, she suddenly shot forward and past Meryl and Millie before slowing down again and catching up with them.

“You don’t know where we’re going!” Meryl scolded as Maria pulled back behind the two of them again. “What were you thinking, going off like that?”

“My hoverboard runs on solar and thermal energy,” Maria replied, quickly thinking up an explanation. No way was she going to tell them about the _other_ reason yet. “Because of the heat and the brightness of the sun here—“

“Suns, dearie,” Millie corrected. “We have more than one.”

“Well, _that_ explains it. But yeah, any technology that I own and work with personally is going to be supercharged by the climate here. I’m going to have to learn to adapt to it.”

“You have more technology besides that?” Meryl looked down at the hoverboard sharply, then back at Maria. “What kind? Does it still work after—“

“Well, my board works, so I should _think_ that everything else works,” Maria replied. “I’m just…going to have to be a bit careful, with what I’m carrying on me.”

She didn’t tell Meryl _what_ technology she had on her – not yet. There were just some things that you didn’t tell strangers you didn’t know too well. Not to mention, she already felt that she’d said and done enough to hint even a little bit that she wasn’t entirely “normal” for a human.

“But you don’t look like you’re carrying anything,” Millie said, frowning.

Maria smirked. “Well, that just means that something else of mine is working like it’s supposed to, too.”

“Oh!” Millie blinked in surprise. “You must have some interesting technology with you, then!”

Maria laughed in response, rubbing the back of her head with a half-smile.

_Oh, you don’t know the half of it._

Maria didn’t say much else as they moved across the desert landscape. Most of her focus was inward, on her own thoughts and taking in the world that she was on the surface of now.

_A desert planet with a perpetual Drought, but I doubt that Groudon is anywhere nearby…this world isn’t a part of that dimension, and I’m not bringing Athair here._

She looked up at the sky – at the two suns that glared down at the three of them.

_My power is at least doubled because of this environment. I’ll have to be careful here._

**Time Break**

It didn’t take them long to find a little outpost on tamped-down sand that looked more like sandy dirt.

Maria stepped off her hoverboard as Millie and Meryl stopped at a tavern as their tomas slowed, clearly looking exhausted by the sun and how quickly the mounts had been pushed. “So, what are we here for?”

“ _We’re_ tracking Vash,” Meryl said. _“You_ are not going to be anywhere near him when we find him, strange technology or no.”

Maria frowned at that as the hoverboard folded itself up and disappeared from sight, causing Millie’s eyebrows to shoot up in surprise and shock. “I thought it was agreed that I would be going with you. Belle said that I should find him, and I’d rather find him than be left to my own devices in a town that I will never fit in with.”

“I’d rather not get you involved in whatever danger is going to be around him by the time we get to him,” Meryl said patiently. “I don’t know what kind of ‘ _not human’_ you are, but I’m not about to put someone in danger just because they want to meet Vash!”

“And I understand that,” Maria replied smoothly. “But I’m also more prepared for attacks than you think I am.” She put a hand on one hip and raised an eyebrow. “Believe me, I can defend myself quite well against the weapons that you likely have access to. Guns aren’t something that I’m afraid of.”

Millie frowned. “Then…what are you afraid of?”

Maria paused at the question.

“Because everyone’s afraid of something – even you, right? Even if you’re from Earth and not…not here?”

Maria looked between the two of them as Meryl looked at her intently. Her mouth pressed into a straight line. “There are some things I’m afraid of. And hopefully you won’t become afraid of them, too.”

The grim tone in her voice was enough to get the two women to exchange looks.

“Can you give us a moment?” Meryl asked. She grabbed Millie’s arm and pulled her away a short distance.

Maria watched the two of them as they bent their heads over and started talking in hushed voices. She turned her attention to the small collection of buildings – the tavern they were in front of, a couple other buildings, a weather vane that looked old and beaten. There were a few people sitting under porches and looking like they were melting under the heat, but when they noticed Maria looking at them and looked back at her, there was a determined, wary spark in their eyes that suggested that they were ready for a fight if they needed to at a moment’s notice.

“These guys are nothing like the softies we left,” Maria murmured under her breath. “They’re more prepared to lay down their lives for anything they own.”

She looked over at Meryl and Millie as they looked at her. As soon as their gazes locked together, the two women went back to talking as Maria continued to look at them.

“Don’t trust me yet,” she murmured to herself. “I’ve traveled enough to know that when they know the person I’m looking for, they’re important. And I’m important. Which means that we are going to have to work together at some point.” She scratched the back of her head as she looked around again. “Hopefully we’ll find a way to come around and trust each other sooner rather than later, but I need proof of things first.”

Maria frowned. She wanted to take that first step, but she didn’t know this world. She was going to need to know how this world worked and how the people would react to—

…well, to _others_ —

\--before she would be able to know how much she could say before they went ballistic. Considering how she was being stared at by the locals, she decided against saying anything else.

For now.

Meryl and Millie came back over, Millie looking worried as Meryl was trying to put on a brave face.

“All right, you can stick with us for a little bit longer,” Meryl said seriously. “But when we find Vash, you can’t go running out into anything he might be doing that we would consider dangerous.”

“Sounds fair enough,” Maria replied evenly. “But if either one of you appear to possibly be in danger at any point between now and the moment we meet up with Vash, I’m stepping in and using what skills I have to defend you both.”

Meryl looked like she doubted that particular statement, but nodded anyway. Millie only looked even more concerned at Maria’s words. “All right. We’re going to head into that bar and ask around for directions – maybe a ride so that our tomas can get a bit of a breather while we keep going.”

With that, Meryl turned and started up into the bar; Millie and Maria followed after her, Millie casting a worried look in Maria’s direction that only caused her to raise an eyebrow in response.

Inside the bar, there were a few people scattered around who looked like they were there mostly for the slightly-cooler temperature of the main room. Maria actively pulled in her power to make sure that the room didn’t suddenly skyrocket and become a sauna.

_Haven’t had to hold back like this before._

Meryl slammed an elbow down onto the bar. “I’ll have a banana sundae!”

“A mille-feuille cake and Ceylon tea please!” Millie added.

Maria blinked at the two of them, looking more surprised than the thrown-off expressions of the bar’s patrons and the bartender himself.

“Hi, we’re hitchhikers in white!” Meryl said cheerily, turning to look at the rest of the patrons.

“Is there anyone here going to Edwards by six tomorrow?” Millie added.

It took Maria a moment to realize what it was that Meryl and Millie had just done in asking for sweets before asking if they could hitch a ride with anyone in town.

 _Those tomas must have been rentals._ And then, after a moment, _Oh. They threw them off to get more honest responses._

It took some time for Meryl and Millie to be able to find someone who was willing to give them a ride: a man with a truck bed full of screeching tomas.

“So money is still a universal language,” Maria commented as she frowned at the screeching animals.

The man who was giving them a ride looked at her oddly. “Well, of course it is! We have to be able to make a living out here. As young as you look, I’d think you’d know that too.”

Maria frowned at the man’s words. Millie looked like she was about to say something, but Meryl sent her a look that caused her to keep her mouth shut.

“I’m not used to seeing these methods very often,” Maria said.

“Oh? Must’ve come from a tough family, then.” The man looked her up and down. “You don’t look like that kind of a kid, but I bet that you learned to hide that. I won’t press; I’m just a toma farmer, but I know what it’s like to survive by the weapons you carry.”

He swung himself up into the driver’s seat. Millie and Meryl started to follow, then looked over at Maria.

“Get in.” Millie stepped down from the cab. “I can ride with the tomas, it’s not a problem!”

“Are you sure?” Maria raised an eyebrow.

“Sure! My family works with tomas too, I can handle it!” Millie gave a cheery grin, but it seemed somewhat forced. She then moved around to the trunk bed and climbed on, causing the tomas to squawk louder in surprise.

Maria blinked a couple times, then shrugged and climbed into the cab when Meryl motioned her in. The two of them settled into the seat as the farmer started the engine.

“Hang on!” he said cheerily. “Edwards is a bit of a drive from here, but I’m sure we’ll make it just fine!”


	4. Paths Begin to Cross

“You girls are lucky to be on a salary,” the farmer – Jessie, he’d introduced himself – said as he kept his eyes on the desert sand. The conversation had wandered back and forth between the tomas in the back with Millie and the occupation Millie and Meryl had, and had finally settled on – of course – money. “I have to wait until the tomas are trained or killed for their meat to really get anything. But still, an insurance agency? You have to have a hard time of it, going out and checking people’s claims.”

“We work in the office,” Meryl corrected. “We’re on vacation right now.”

Maria raised an eyebrow at Meryl.

“A vacation?” Jessie laughed. “Must be some vacation if you’re—“

A shadow passed over the truck and crashed into the sand, forcing Jessie to swerve sharply in order to avoid the spray from the dune.

The group turned their heads sharply in order to get a good look at the thing as Jessie brought the truck back under his control.

“That thing looks man-made!” Jessie said in surprise, looking over the metal object that was sticking up from the sand at an angle. Smoke rose up out of a pair of holes in the back that looked like they had been designed to be there.

Maria, sitting between him and Meryl, let out a loud gasp of shock, then quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and started to move over Meryl.

“H-hey! What the—“

“That’s an escape pod!” Maria started working at the door, trying to get it open while fighting with Meryl, who was resolutely keeping the door shut. “There might be people inside from a colony ship – _let me out!”_

“A colony ship?!” Jessie stopped the truck; it skidded forward across the sand a few feet before it came to a stop. “But those things crashed ages ago – there’s no way that there was one still up in orbit!”

“Well, it looks like this one was!” Maria finally managed to get the door open despite Meryl’s attempts to keep the door shut, and she dropped onto the sand before scrambling to her feet and bolting for the giant section of steaming metal.

Millie jumped out the back of the truck and ran after her. “Maria-san, wait! That could be dangerous!”

Meryl scrambled out of the truck after them, then turned and fixed Jessie with a glare. “Stay here.”

Jessie started at Meryl with wide eyes, then nodded quickly. “Y-yeah. Sure.”

Meryl got the distinct impression that he thought they were all crazy, but at this point she didn’t care. She turned on one foot and ran after Millie and Maria, who had managed to get a fair distance ahead and were already close to some of the wreckage that had fallen off the part of a spaceship that had crashed in the sand.

Maria came skidding to a stop in front of a piece of machinery that looked similar to the pod that Millie and Meryl had found her lying in, as Millie and Meryl came to a stop a few feet behind her. “Lucky that this sand offers a soft enough landing area that the person inside won’t be jostled too—“

The opaque glass of the pod that was sticking up out of the ground suddenly shot up into the air with a burst of smoke and the sound of mechanical parts failing. A figure was pushed out onto the sand.

“A girl?!” Meryl exclaimed in surprise, looking down at the figure who was lying in the sand. It was indeed a girl – a _teenage_ girl, wearing dark overalls and a short-sleeved shirt, with her hair tied up in a braid. She looked barely conscious.

Maria quickly approached the girl, getting down on her knees behind her. She started to move to grab the girl, to lift her head and upper body up and get a better look at her to make sure that she was all right, but then she paused when she heard the girl say something faintly.

“Va….Vash. Help us, Vash….”

Maria sucked in a breath sharply – and so did Meryl.

“Millie, tell Jessie to bring the truck around!” Meryl barked sharply, turning and looking over at her friend.

“On it!” Millie bolted back across the sand as Maria carefully lifted the girl up in her arms and moved to stand on her feet. Considering Maria and the girl’s size, they were almost the same height, making the sight look a little strange.

“She knows him,” Maria murmured to herself. “Then...something’s happened; it’s likely they need his help.”

Meryl looked at Maria sharply, eyes wide. “What – what made you come to that conclusion?”

“Isn’t it obvious? There are people still living in the remains of a colony ship somewhere.” Maria turned and looked at Meryl. “And these people know your friend. Someone up there must’ve helped her get away from a danger that has come over the ship, or she managed to get away on her own – either way, something’s going on.”

The girl stirred in Maria’s arms, shifting to face her as her eyes started to flutter open slowly. She looked up at Maria as the confusion faded from her face, only to be quickly replaced with an expression of alarm. “Wh-who are you?! Where am I?!”

Maria looked down at her with a slightly surprised expression as Jessie came around with the truck, Millie riding in the cab with him. Her expression softened slightly. “My name is Maria; you’re on the surface, but I’m not exactly sure as to where.”

The girl looked around with a slightly panicked expression. “W-w-would you put me down? Please?”

“Do you think you can stand, after getting blasted out of a colony ship?” Maria responded, frowning.

“Yes; put me down!”

Maria sighed and nodded before putting the girl down on her feet carefully. “What happened? Why were you asking for Vash?”

The girl looked up at Maria sharply as Jessie and the truck came closer to them. “Do you know him?”

“We’re friends of his,” Meryl replied, sending Maria a cautious look. She turned her attention to the girl. “My name’s Meryl. What’s happened?”

“I-I’m Jessica. S-someone attacked our home. Brad, he – he blasted me out of the ship!” Jessica motioned to the escape pod and the part of the ship she’d been sent off in.

Maria stiffened at that as Millie stepped off the back of the truck, looking concerned. Jessie was just staring at them with wide eyes, looking like he wasn’t quite believing what it was that he was seeing. “Who’s attacking you?”

“I – I don’t know, someone who uses a lot of puppets. People-sized.”

Maria’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I see….”

“Where do you live?” Meryl asked quickly.

“In the – the sea of sand? I think you call it the Melca Border?”

“Melca Border….?” Maria frowned in confusion, then looked over at Meryl with a curious look. When she saw the expression of disbelief on the woman’s face, she tilted her head slightly. “What is it?”

“Nothing can live out in there – the sand is so fine that anything will sink into it.” Meryl shook her head. “People have tried, but—“

“We live in a colony ship! The gravity Plants still work, so we can stay above the sand and not sink!” Jessica looked insistent, but then looked worried. “But with the puppet man attacking us….”

Maria’s frown deepened at that, and she turned to look Jessica in the eye. “Whatever the problem is, I’m sure that it will be solved. You’ve got our attention now, and I _really_ doubt that any one of us are just going to stand by and let this happen.” She looked over at Meryl and Millie.

Millie hesitated for a moment, but then Millie said cheerily, “Of course not! And trouble always attracts Vash’s attention, so I’m sure he’s on his way to take care of the problem too!”

“Really? You think so?”

Meryl sighed somewhat irritably. “Vash always seems to attract trouble, not the other way around.”

“I don’t see why it can’t work the other way around,” Maria pointed out. She got to her feet. “Do either of you know where it is that this colony ship probably is, then?”

“You mean you wouldn’t be able to find it with the technology you have?” Millie responded curiously.

Maria blinked as Jessica frowned in confusion. “I…I don’t know? It might not have the proper communication systems in place anymore, so I might not be able to get into contact with it and determine its location. Besides, things like this require a satellite connection, and as far as I can tell there aren’t really any satellites up in this planet’s atmosphere that signals could be bounced off. I’d need something like that in order to be able to figure out where they are.”

“You have Earth technology?” Jessica looked at Maria with wide eyes. “How? It didn’t survive anywhere except—“

“I’ve got some secrets of my own.” Maria tapped the side of her nose and winked at Jessica, then looked over at Meryl and Millie. “So, are we going?”

Meryl only needed a second to decide about what it was they were going to do. “We’re going. Millie, get our tomas from the back of Jessie’s truck; we’ll go ahead on our own.”

“Much obliged,” Jessie said – maybe a little too quickly, and with too much relief. Clearly, he was glad to be able to get away from three women who had turned out to suddenly be a little bit crazier than he had thought at first.

“Yes ma’am!” Millie said cheerily, moving to get two of the tomas from the back of the truck. The two creatures balked and tried to pull back out of nerves as a result of being so close to the crash, but Millie was able to pull them both off without too much difficulty.

Maria pulled her hoverboard out of thin air and stepped onto it as Jessica’s jaw dropped at the sight of the device. “I can take her if you two won’t have room. I’ve shared my hoverboard with others before.”

“Where did you – how –“

Maria gave Jessica a small smile and winked a little. “My secret, kiddo. Let’s just say there’s more to me than meets the eye.” She chuckled to herself, as though having made her own secret joke that no one else could completely understand.

Jessica stared at her with wide eyes, not looking like she had been expecting that.

“Come on, kiddo!” Millie picked Jessica up and put her on top of her toma. “We’ve got to get you home and figure out what’s going on, right?”

Jessica looked nervous at Millie’s statement.

“Whatever the problem is, we’ll keep you safe,” Maria said with a determined nod. She held up her right hand and clenched it into a fist.

The other three looked over at Maria with unsure expressions, but something about Jessica’s expression shifted slightly.

“You – you’re one of them, aren’t you? One of the people that Gramma and Grandpa talked about having been with us when we left Earth?”

Maria’s smirk faded slightly as Meryl and Millie exchanged looks of confusion. “You know about me?”

“Sort-of? I—I mean….” Jessica ducked her head. “If – if you _are_ one of the two scouts that were supposed to be on the colony ships….”

Maria’s eyebrows rose up in surprise. “So they do know still. That’s kind of surprising, but…it’s nice to know that I’m still remembered somewhere.” She relaxed a little and smirked again. “Call me Maria, kid. Let’s go cut this puppet guy’s strings before he does anything more than he already has.” The smirk dropped.

“The Melca Border’s this way!” Millie flicked the toma’s reins and took off across the sand. Maria moved to follow after her instantly, kicking up the sand behind her and leaving Meryl behind.

Meryl quickly moved to catch up with Maria and Millie, staying behind Millie and alongside Maria.

“What kind of a person _are_ you?” Meryl demanded, looking over at Maria. “What kind of reputation did you have with the people that you came here from Earth with?”

Maria tilted her head slightly at the question. The serious look in her eyes was enough to cause Meryl to hesitate a little under the young woman’s gaze.

“I have an interesting relationship with people from Earth,” Maria replied. “Very few know that Joshua and I were supposed to be the scouts for the ships, and even fewer know what it is that I am capable of. It’s going to be interesting to see what exactly it is that these people in this colony ship know about me.” She looked ahead at the horizon and cracked her knuckles. “Hopefully there are still some people left.”

“What _are_ you capable of? If you’re as dangerous as Vash—“

“I’m only dangerous if people think they can stand against me and get plans done that put people in danger,” Maria replied seriously. “If we meet someone who decides to put you in danger, then I am a danger to him. I am not a natural disaster.”

Meryl blinked a couple times, looking like she wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. The expression in her eyes was an unsure one.

Maria met her gaze with a calm, but burning expression, then looked ahead and focused on the horizon.


	5. A Pastor, You Say?

It took about a day, but the group of four eventually reached a firm, rocky cliff with a small building connected to a cable. Maria followed the cable with her eyes out into what looked like a wall of mist and bits of sand that seemed to be floating out over a void of something that Maria could not see.

“Something bad must be happening ahead,” Maria said as she stepped off her hoverboard. The tomas shrieked at her as Meryl and Millie tried to keep them from bucking.

Jessica stared with wide eyes as the hoverboard folded up on its own and moved to Maria’s back before disappearing from sight.

“What makes you say that?” Millie looked at Maria worriedly as she got off the toma’s back. The creature moved from foot to foot with a nervousness that clearly said it didn’t want to be here.

“The tomas’ skittishness, and…something else.” Maria looked over the building in front of them, with the large wheel and the almost abandoned feel the area had. “There’s a tension in the air that I don’t like the feel of.”

“A tension?” Millie tilted her head slightly. “But…things are always tense here.”

“Well, more tense than normal, then. I’ve got a sixth sense for these kinds of things – something’s gone wrong up ahead and we need to get there fast if we want to figure out what’s going on.”

“B-but I already told you,” Jessica pointed out. “There was a man with puppets and—“

“I know.” Maria’s tone was quiet as Meryl climbed off her toma. It bucked a bit as soon as she got off, but she kept a firm grip on the reins to keep it in place. “But I think there’s more to this than just a man attacking your home.”

“I still find it hard to believe that you’ve been living in a colony ship out in the middle of this,” Meryl said with an expression of disbelief. “It sounds impossible. To think that something with that kind of technology has been able to last for this long….”

“You found me,” Maria pointed out. “I think that at this point anything is possible when it comes to Earth tech.” She frowned. “It’s…going to be strange, to think of it as _old._ I’m used to it being _modern.”_

“A lot of it is still used,” Millie replied as she pushed the door of the building open. “I mean, this is made out of old tech.”

“Yes, but _you_ call it _old._ _I’m_ used to seeing it brand new.” Maria shook her head as she stepped inside, followed by Meryl and Jessica. The tomas stood skittishly outside the door, refusing to come in any further despite the tugging on their reins. “It’s…I’m not sure what to make of this place yet. There are a number of things that I still don’t have the answers for. Maybe Vash will be able to help me find them.”

The inside of the building didn’t look like all that much. It was open to the outside because of a cable that ran through a pulley system along the ceiling, connected to a gondola. It had clearly seen some wear and tear, but it was still able to hold itself together regardless.

“Looks stable enough,” Maria commented as Meryl started inspecting what looked like a set of controls. “This must be what they use to get off the colony ship when they’re not getting blasted out of the escape hatch.” She looked over at Jessica, who nodded with an uncertain expression.

“I-I think this is it, yeah. I haven’t been off the ship before.”

“Well, it looks simple enough to operate,” Meryl muttered. “Millie, get the tomas and get them in the gondola – I don’t know when we’ll be back and I’d rather not have them starve out here or get caught by bandits or something.”

“You got it!” Millie ran back out into the open.

“I’ll help!” Jessica followed after her quickly.

As soon as the two of them were out of the building, Maria went and approached the gondola and looked it over with a grim expression that looked like it had settled on her face a long time ago and was very comfortable there. Meryl looked over the controls for the device a little more closely instead, frowning.

“So, the people who live here know about you and your cousin,” Meryl said in what was probably supposed to be taken as a casual tone.

“Seems like it,” Maria replied lightly. She pressed a hand against the sand-worn glass of the gondola’s windows. “The gondola looks like it should be able to hold us all for one trip. It’s going to be tight with the tomas though.”

“Do you think that you’d be willing to tell _us_ more about yourself since the people in this area—“

“We’ll see. I’d rather not scare you more than I already seem to have.”

Meryl looked at Maria sharply at that. “Wh-what gave you that idea?”

“The way you look at me for starters. You’re not sure what to make of me – not yet. You want to know as much as you can and make sure that I’m not a possible enemy before you let your guard down completely.”

“How did—“

“I do it too with people I don’t know very well yet.” Maria looked Meryl in the eye, gaze guarded. “I’m not entirely sure how much trust I can give to you people yet, but the fact that you know Vash and are clearly friends with him means that I’m willing to give at least a little. How much more…well, that depends.” Maria’s gaze relaxed slightly, and she shrugged one shoulder.

“Depends on what?” Meryl asked instantly.

“The tomas left a real mess outside!” Millie exclaimed as she and Jessica dragged the tomas into the room. The bird-like mounts looked like they’d been thoroughly exhausted by something. “They did their business _and_ they—“

“Millie!” Meryl gasped. “Don’t talk about that right now!”

“It was gross,” Jessica said with a disgusted expression.

Maria snorted. “I can imagine.” She nodded with her head towards the gondola. “Let’s get moving. We’re wasting time standing around like this.”

Jessica nodded quickly in agreement, then quickly ran into the gondola, leading one of the two tomas with her. The creature balked as it got close to the open doors, but Millie was right behind it and forced both of the tomas inside.

“Come on!” Millie looked back at Meryl and Maria and motioned for them to follow. “Let’s go!”

“Right behind you.” Maria moved over to the gondola’s doors, then stopped and looked back at Meryl. She motioned with her head for the woman to follow her in, then stepped inside.

Meryl, not one to be left alone in this particular place, quickly scrambled in after them.

As soon as the doors closed, the gondola jerked, then started moving along the cable slowly. It didn’t take them long before they were out in mid-air, the gondola swinging as the cable groaned from their weight.

“So, Maria, is it true what the stories say?” Jessica asked. “That – that you do all kinds of stuff that are impossible for normal people? Even Vash?”

“Even Vash?” Maria repeated. “So this guy’s in a class of his own, is he?”

“W-well…I’ve heard people say that he lives outside of time…but I haven’t really been able to get to know him, so I don’t know if he does or not.”

At that, Maria’s demeanor changed slightly. She sat a little straighter in her seat, the movement abrupt enough to make a toma look at her. “Lives outside of time…? That’s…I didn’t think it was—“ She cut herself off and shook her head. “I guess surprises still come out of nowhere, huh?” She smirked a little. “Man, if Joshua was here….”

Meryl and Millie exchanged looks of confusion as Jessica looked at Maria with a wide-eyed expression.

“So – so you know who Vash is?”

“I have an idea.” Maria looked at the others, the smirk fading some. “And you’re right; there are things that the two of us can do that each other can’t. What exactly those talents entail…well, that depends. I’d rather keep my cards close to my chest until I have to show them one by one. This world is…different, from what I am familiar with.”

Jessica nodded in response while Meryl and Millie looked mostly confused.

It took Millie a couple seconds to say anything. “So, um, if we find anything dangerous that might still be… _around…_ when we get there, are you—“

“I’ll protect you,” Maria replied. “It’s in my nature to, especially if there is still danger afoot. I don’t like it when I see others harmed.”

The conviction in her voice made Meryl sit a little straighter in surprise.

“What kind of strength do you have?” Millie asked. “To be able to protect people, I mean.”

Maria looked down at her hands, with an expression on her face that seemed to say she was somewhere else for a few seconds. “The kind that people either fear or dream of, but most never see with their own eyes.”

Meryl didn’t look like she knew what to make of that, but the awed expressions on Millie’s and Jessica’s faces were enough to keep her from saying anything. Instead, she just shook her head and threw her hands in the air.

“We’re never going to get a straight answer from you, are we?”

“Depends on what happens,” Maria replied. She looked out the windows of the gondola, at the mist that obscured most of their vision. Her expression hardened slightly when she saw some dark shape out in the mists start to become bigger as they came closer. “Is that it up ahead, kiddo?”

Jessica instantly scrambled to look out the window as Meryl and Millie turned their heads. Her expression brightened instantly. “Yeah! That’s it!”

“All right. Looks like it’s time we got moving.” Maria moved to stand upright. Her right fist clenched tightly, then fell into a more loose, relaxed position. “The kid should stay back by the entrance while we investigate what’s going on inside.” She looked over at Jessica as the mist parted into a clear circle, revealing a large, metal structure ahead of them. “You said there were a lot of puppets in there?”

Jessica nodded. “Y-yeah. There was someone controlling a lot of them, a-and they were killing people.”

“Okay.” Maria looked back at what was ahead of them and took in a deep breath. “If he has puppets, then he has to have strings somewhere….”

Her gaze went over the large, metal structure as they approached.

It was definitely the remains of a colony ship from Earth: long and thin, it had been designed to be able to withstand the aerodynamics of slight-faster-than-light travel. But it certainly had been damaged in falling to this planet.

The outer casing had been all but stripped away; if they were planning on using it to get off the planet, it would do the inhabitants more harm than good. The sand had also worn away at the transport to the point that it was a wonder that some parts were still able to hold on.

It was also hovering in mid-air without any issues as far as Maria could see, but she would have to give it a closer look when things were settled.

“Even if there isn’t much left to this colony ship, there’s a lot left for that Plant to power,” Maria murmured. “Let’s find this puppet master.”

The gondola docked on a piece of metal stretching out from what looked like the main docking bay of the ship. Maria moved around in front of the rest and waited for the gondola to settle before she pushed the door open and stepped out.

The wind hit her in the face instantly, and Maria reacted with a wince as small bits of sand flew past her face. She shook her head, then looked back at the others. “Let’s leave the tomas in there for now, just in case. I don’t think they want to be out in the open like this, or end up as fodder for whatever fight we might end up in.”

“Sounds good to me!” Millie came out of the gondola, practically pulling Meryl along with her.

“I-is it okay if I stay here?” Jessica asked somewhat meekly.

“Go ahead, kiddo,” Maria replied. “We’ll come out and get you when we know it’s safe.”

Jessica nodded, the pulled the gondola door mostly shut behind them and went to hug a tomas around the neck.

Maria nodded back, then turned to look at Meryl and Millie with an expression that caused both women to pause. She looked…strangely serious, for a teenager from Earth. Then again, her position as “scout” and the things that she and the girl had both said made the two women think there was more to her than she appeared to be.

“What’s the plan, then?” Maria asked. “You know more about this world than I do.”

Meryl looked surprised at Maria’s statement – but only for a moment. Her expression became serious in seconds. “Right now, we need to head in there and see if there’s anything going on. I’ll head in first – I’m probably the most quiet of us.”

Maria nodded in response, as did Millie. “Lead the way.”

Meryl nodded, then moved towards the entrance, pulling out one of her pistols as she did. Millie and Maria followed after her, Millie putting her hand under her coat and grabbing onto something that Maria thought looked like a large cannon. Her eyebrows rose at the sight of it, appearing impressed.

It didn’t take long for them to see the remains of the carnage that had been caused by _something._

Meryl stopped just short of the end of the metal corridor, staring in shock at what lay beyond. “What in—“

“What is it?” Maria moved to look around her as Millie looked over them both.

“This…is this what she was talking about, when she said that there were puppets?”

The area ahead of them looked starkly different from both the ship and the desert landscape outside. Green grass grew up from the floor of the room, with a few trees scattered about here and there.

It _would_ have been pristine except that there was not only a large hole in the middle of the room, but there were limbs and naked pieces of bodies scattered all over the place.

Maria made a noise of disgust as her nose crinkled up.

“Oh dear,” Millie said worriedly. “A-are those – those things, are they—“

Millie was cut off suddenly by the sound of a loud yell coming from the hole in the middle of the room. It was a young man’s yell, sounding both annoyed and almost feral at the exact same time, and it was punctuated by gunshots.

Millie gasped suddenly. “That’s – he needs our help!”

“I say we can leave him alone to handle things,” Meryl grumbled. “You _know_ he’s just as good as Vash is – and he’s definitely more deadly!”

“Who?” Maria frowned.

“Pastor-san!”

“ _Pastor?_ ”

The gunshots fell silent.

Maria snorted and shook her head. “This world must have some strange religions if that’s a _pastor_ down there. If he’s deadly he’s not doing a very good job of following the Fifth Commandment!”

Meryl looked at Maria with an expression of surprise. “You—“

“Come on! Let’s go help!” Millie moved around the two of them and ran towards the large hole in the center of the room.

“Millie, wait!” Meryl quickly ran after her, Maria on her heels.

Millie reached the hole and leapt down without any hesitation. Meryl reached the hole not long after and quickly followed, not looking at Maria to see what it was that she was doing.

The two women ended up dropping down on top of what looked like a metal weapon of some kind, attached to an already mutilated, muscular figure who looked like he had been torn apart from the inside out. As they collided, the blade-like weapon the monster of a man had been trying to swing down on his opponent was crushed under Millie’s own weapon: a large gun with multiple chambers, but instead of bullets, it was armed with metal, collapsible rods meant to stun opponents.

Maria’s approach was far more slow as she slowly hovered to the ground on her hoverboard, arms folded across her chest. “Man, that’s a real mess. Are you guys okay down there?”

“We’re fine!” Millie replied cheerily, looking up at Maria and waving. The man they’d just saved – a young man with a suit and what looked like a metal cross lying next to him – looked up at Maria with startled dark eyes. “We were just in the nick of time! That was quite a pinch, eh, Pastor-san?”

“Please, think before you act, Millie!” Meryl complained, rubbing her rear as she got to her feet.

“…what are you two?” the man – apparently Pastor-san – asked weakly. “And who’s _she?!”_ He pointed at Maria as she reached the floor.

“Maria Carlsdale,” Maria introduced herself. “I was found by these two in a crashed colony ship.” She looked the scruffy pastor up and down, raising an eyebrow. “So, you’re supposed to be a man of God? I can’t say that I’ve heard of a minister of any religion take the words ‘take up your cross and follow me’ so literally.” Her eyes went over to the cross-shaped weapon that was sitting near the man.

The man blinked blankly at that. “You…you’re a believer?” He sounded like he wasn’t sure what to make of that, much less whether or not that was true.

“Yeah. Although, it’s apparently been…a long time, since I’ve been able to set foot in a church.” Maria’s expression softened a little, but she shook her head with a sigh in order to dispel the memories. “What’s your name, preacher?”

“Uh…Wolfwood. Nicholas D. Wolfwood.”

Maria’s face twitched slightly at that introduction, and she gave him another look over. “Well, Nicholas, you look like you need a visit to the medbay.”

The man’s face shifted almost instantly from dumbed surprise to annoyance. “I’ll be fine. Most of this blood isn’t mine, anyway.”

Footsteps could be heard from an adjoining corridor. Maria turned her head sharply as she heard shouting – “I think I heard fighting over this way! There might be some people who still need our help!”

Nicholas started to get to his feet at the sound of the voices while Millie and Meryl exchanged looks. “If this is another one of that puppet man’s tricks, he’s going to be really in for it.”

Maria glided forward on her hoverboard, settling next to Wolfwood and causing him to look at her in sharp disapproval.

“Kid—“

“I’m not a kid,” Maria replied evenly, quietly. “I haven’t been one since I was 16.”

A group of figures – mostly men, but some women – came running around a corridor, guns at the ready. The man at the head slowed to a stop as soon as he caught sight of the group of people standing – or getting up from – the remaining bloody wreckage that probably had been a person at some point.

“Who are you?” one of the women in the group demanded. “More puppets of his?”

“I was just about to ask the same thing of you,” Nicholas replied. He started to reach for his cross, but Maria put a hand in front of him before he could get too far.

“Wait. They’re human, and they’re alive. They’re probably locals.”

Nicholas gave Maria an odd look. “How did you—“ He cut himself off when he saw the spark in her eyes.

Instead of the blue they’d been a few seconds ago, they’d become more of a dull red that was rapidly fading.

“What the hell?” Nicholas muttered.

“Who are you?” one of the men demanded.

Maria moved forward a little, raising her hands as she remained on her hoverboard and the weapons were pointed at her. “My name is Maria Carlsdale. I was supposed to be one of the two scouts who would have landed on possibly habitable planets. Something kept me from doing my job and keep us from landing on this desert planet, and I apologize for that. Millie and Meryl awoke me from my cyrosleep in the crashed remains of the colony ship I had been in. That was less than a week ago.”

The men and women exchanged looks at that, somewhat surprised but still guarded.

“If you require proof from me, I am willing to give it,” Maria added. “But I think there are more pressing matters to attend to first – he needs medical attention, I think.” She nodded over to Nicholas, who huffed as heads turned in his direction. “We came at the tail-end of a fight.”

“Eww!” Millie held up something with a disgusted expression, causing the others to turn at look at her.

Maria moved back a little when she saw the thing Millie was holding in one hand – a small man with an abnormally large head. He almost looked like a muscular baby.

“Hey – there’s another one of those guys in here too!” Meryl yelped and moved away from the pile of flesh.

Maria looked thoroughly disgusted. “What kind of world have I come to, that they do these things to the people who live on it?”

“Welcome to No Man’s Land,” replied one of the men who had approached. He put his gun away and moved closer to them.

“Jeryl—“

“These people aren’t a threat. We’ve heard about what Vash has been doing out on the planet’s surface, and Meryl and Millie were two of his companions. Wolfwood over there, too. Get him to the medbay and see about keeping him from bleeding out.” Jeryl pointed back at the others who had come with him, who exchanged looks before a couple of them moved towards Wolfwood.

The priest grumbled a little, but he let them lead him off. He still kept a tight grip on his weapon, however, refusing to let others pick up his cross.

Jeryl turned and looked at Maria, Meryl, Millie, and the two unconscious, bulb-headed little men that Millie had just finished pulling out of the bloody remains. “Those two must be with him – I’ll get them to a cell. In the meantime, you three should come with us, too.”

“We left a girl outside with our tomas,” Millie said quickly. “Could we get her first?”

“I’ll get Jessica,” Maria replied. “The layout of the colony ships is pretty much the same; I know where the medbay is. I’ll head straight there with her.”

“Wait—“

Before Jeryl could say anything else, Maria had turned to face the hole in the ceiling and shot up towards hit with a blast of air from her hoverboard that left the group staring after her with expressions of surprise.

“…that has to be Earth tech,” Jeryl said weakly as Maria went over the lip of the hole in the ceiling.


	6. Vash

**Chapter 6 – Vash**

True to Maria’s word, she arrived outside of the medbay, sharing her hoverboard’s space with Jessica as she clung to Maria’s waist to keep balance. They were met by a couple armed men standing on either side of the door who, as soon as they caught sight of Jessica, relaxed immediately.

“Your mother is worried about you,” one of them scolded as Maria stepped off her hoverboard. The other watched with wide eyes as the hoverboard folded up and disappeared from sight. “Where did you end up?!”

“B-brad ejected me from the ship!” Jessica replied. “I got found by – by Meryl and Millie and Maria, so I was safe!”

“Brad did? I think he mentioned something about that.” The one scratched his head, frowning. “Well, I’m glad you got back safe – this is Maria, then?”

Maria gave a nod in greeting. “My apologies for dropping out of the blue so suddenly but—“

“Hey, any extra help would be a good thing. If the rumors are true about you, that is.” The guard looked Maria over curiously. “Are…they?”

Maria shrugged. “I don’t know what the rumors are, so I don’t know whether or not I would be able to confirm them. I’ve only been awake for less than a week, if seven days comes to a week on this world.”

The two guards shrugged.

“That’s how we’ve always done things so...I guess? But if you are who you say you are, our leader’s gonna want to talk to you.” The first guard motioned inside the medbay. “She’s just in there, talking to your two friends. Vash and his friend are in there too, but they’re sleeping for now. I wouldn’t do anything to disturb them.”

Maria’s eyes sparked at Vash’s name, and she nodded. “Got it.”

“Can I go in there and see him?” Jessica asked quietly.

“Just don’t wake him. It’s going to take a little while to find your family, anyway.”

At nods of confirmation from the two of them, Maria and Jessica stepped into the medbay.

The medbay was quiet. Beds lined the walls of the room, sectioned off by curtains to give the patients some privacy. It also gave Maria the impression that more people were harmed than just Vash and Wolfwood – something that she expected.

She wondered if the monster Wolfwood had been up against was the puppet master, or one of the puppets he’d had to go against.

“So, you’re Maria, then?”

Maria turned her head at the voice and locked eyes with a woman – older in appearance, with short, dark hair, and wearing robes that suggested she was one of the higher-up members of the society here. She nodded. “And you’re in charge here, I assume?”

The woman nodded. “I am Luida, the head of the council here. I didn’t think that either you or your partner would ever walk among the living after the crash.”

“I haven’t seen my cousin yet, but we’re both pretty resilient,” Maria replied. Jessica wandered off to go have a look around the beds to see if she could spot Vash among them. “How many of you knew that I existed, or even was possibly still alive?”

“Very few of us,” Luida admitted. “I was only let in on it by my predecessor on the council seat when I took his position. It is a closely-kept secret, on account of your missing status until today.” She inclined her head slightly. “The two outsiders who came with you and Jessica – they said they found you in a cyro chamber inside a crashed ship?”

“They did.” Maria noticed that Luida’s gaze was moving, and followed it. She saw Meryl and Millie, wearing gloves and aprons with first aid crosses on the front, looking over someone a few beds down. “But they don’t know who I am, other than that I was supposed to be a scout and I have to find Vash. I told them these two things freely, after which I learned they’re apparently friends of his.” She looked at Luida with a sideways glance.

“They are, yes. Vash has been…kind enough to give us correspondence on more than one occasion, and has mentioned two women that match their description.” Luida looked at Maria with a sideways glance of her own. “But why do you want to meet with Vash?”

“The Plant who was keeping the cyro chamber going until I awoke – Belle – she…she said that I should find him, before she ran out of energy herself.” Maria’s expression softened into sadness. “She said he was someone to talk to, to figure out the ins and outs of this world, as well as to help.”

“If he lets you help. You are a child – I know the stories claim that you are older than that, but to me you seem to be only on the cusp of becoming an adult.” Luida lowered the hand she’d raised in order to stave off Maria’s response. “There are a lot of stories about you that we consider to be only fiction, and nothing more than that. The children may believe them, but…worlds where animals can control the elements? Creatures and people thought to be fiction on Earth suddenly coming to life? It seems impossible.”

“There are a lot of things that are impossible, but what I have done is not impossible for me,” Maria replied. She inclined her head slightly, and her eyes flashed a brighter, almost electric blue. Luida raised an eyebrow. “I have not shown my full power yet here because this world is far warmer than I’m used to. I’ve had a few days to get used to the temperature and to the fact that this world, despite its strangeness to me, is a part of the universe I tend to call home. You can expect me to get involved with or without Vash’s permission, when I find out what it is that has happened. In the midst of that, I’m also going to be looking for my cousin – I don’t have a way to contact him presently, but I intend to hunt him down, find the ship he was in, or find some evidence that he is alive and wandering around this desert landscape somewhere.”

Luida remained silent, looking Maria over with a guarded expression that said she was keeping her judgements of Maria to herself for the moment. “Very well. Then you are going to need to know the situation of this world before you go out on your own and do as you like. If the stories are true and you have traversed across multiple worlds before reaching this one, then you will need to know things before you cause events to become worse.”

“I would appreciate that.”

Luida motioned for Maria to follow her over to a couple chairs set up nearby, likely meant for family of someone who might be in the medbay. Maria moved to take the seat that was closer to the door and leaned back in the seat.

The metal groaned a little as Maria made herself comfortable, causing Luida to raise an eyebrow at the sound before she began.

“I do not know if you are entirely aware, but the young man whom we call Vash is, in fact, a being that you might be more familiar with as—“

“I could guess.” At Luida’s raised eyebrow, Maria elaborated, “Jessica mentioned that he was a being outside of time. That, and Belle told me to find him specifically, not a group of people. She trusted him despite never having met him, and I have a pretty good idea as to why. I’m not sure as to how or why he is capable of existing in this realm, but I’m not one to look into that sort of thing.”

Luida nodded. “Then you don’t know that he has a brother.”

“I did not.” Maria inclined her head slightly.

“His name is Knives, and he is the reason that we have ended up crashed on this particular world.”

Maria hummed in interest, quietly. “I see.”

“He is a dangerous individual who appears to believe that humans are the scum of the universe and are not meant to live and thrive. We do not know how he came to be this way. Vash has not given us specifics, other than that his brother must be stopped. It has been his actions that have caused Vash to gain such a bad reputation on the planet’s surface.”

“Because he shows up in time to clean up or stop him and ends up causing a lot of damage as a result,” Maria guessed.

“Exactly.”

“I see.” Maria leaned back in thought, frowning. “And stop, for him, does not mean kill.”

“No. Vash refuses to take the lives of others.”

“Hm.” Maria tapped her chin. “How many people know about this?”

“As far as we are aware, only those of us who live here in the colony. The traveling companions he takes over the course of his life have never been let in on it – and that includes those women and the outsider with the cross.”

Maria glanced over at Meryl and Millie as Luida spoke. The two women and Jessica didn’t seem to hear their conversation, instead talking amongst themselves further down the medbay. She looked back at Luida. “Considering that, then that means there are very few or no others like him?”

“That would be correct as well.”

“I see.” Maria steepled her fingers. “Then he would rather not get them involved. Are things coming to a head?”

“Not as far as we are aware, but Vash has only recently resurfaced after being off the grid for two years. He could have been attempting to hide from Knives during that time, after an event that caused a hole to be blown in one of the moons.”

“Yes, I heard about that from Meryl and Millie. Meryl was in the area, but she wasn’t harmed by the blast that apparently came from Vash’s arm – or Vash’s weapon, she wasn’t able to tell. I’m not about to press as to what exactly it was that he did.” Maria’s eyes narrowed. “I know that his sisters – at least, I would guess that would be the relation, as they call each other sisters – have great power in them. So I can only guess that he would be able to use that how he likes as well.”

Luida appeared impressed, but only for a moment. “Yes. I assume that you would have to carry great power within yourself as well, in order to be able to do all the things that the stories claim you are capable of. Because if that is the case, then you and your cousin might be in far more danger than you are normally used to. If Knives catches wind of—“

“VAAAAAAAAAAASH!”

Maria jumped at Jessica’s cry, and turned sharply in her chair, only to see Jessica disappear behind the curtain she, Meryl, and Millie happened to be standing nearby.

“Owowowowow!” yelped another voice in tandem with Jessica’s crying. A young man’s voice by the sound of it, and _clearly_ in pain from a sudden collision.

Maria pushed herself off the chair and rose to her feet, a serious but curious expression crossing her face. She started to make her way over as the sounds of pain faded.

“L-long time no see!” the young man’s voice spoke up again as Maria drew closer. “Both of you look like you’re well. Thank goodness!”

Maria pulled the curtain aside a little as Meryl stepped over next to the bed and knocked the figure sitting in it over the head. The movement of the curtain caused the figure’s blue-green eyes to move and lock with Maria’s, even as he rubbed his head in pain.

Vash looked quite youthful, for a gunslinger who was supposed to be mankind’s first natural disaster in human form. Blue-green eyes, bright yellow hair that fell about his head and settled around his chin, and a half-smile that looked a bit sheepish after the strike Meryl had given him. It faded into an expression of curiosity when he locked eyes with Maria, but before he could say anything, he had a card thrust in his face by Meryl.

“Insurance courtesy of the Bernadelli Insurance Society!” Meryl exclaimed.

Maria frowned in confusion at Meryl as other figures started to crowd through the door into the medbay, and others pushed the curtains back around the other beds, revealing other men and women who had been bandaged up.

“Why are they giving him business cards?” someone asked.

“I don’t get these outsider chicks,” another muttered with a shake of his head.

“Speak for yourself,” Maria said with a snort.

Vash looked over at Maria again, but then Jessica’s sniffling got his attention again. “C’mon, stop crying, Jessica. Relax. I thought someone killed you.”

Maria shot him a wide-eyed look.

“In a colony of 480 people, they got 170 of them,” Vash murmured to himself. “Somehow the panic has subsided, but…” He bowed his head, clenching the sheets. “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

Maria blinked a couple times at his words. Now she could see a weight settling on his shoulders. A great one.

A familiar one.

“O-oi! What are you talking about, Vash?” someone spoke up.

“If only I’d stepped in sooner…No. If I hadn’t gotten everyone involved—“

“Knock it off! No such thinking!”

Maria looked over sharply as Vash looked up while Luida approached.

“Luida!” Vash said in surprise.

“If it weren’t for you and that dark-haired man over there, this whole ship would have been annihilated, wouldn’t it?” Luida pointed out grimly. “Really, we must extend our thanks to you, Vash. It has been some time since we last saw you. Were those men Knives’ henchmen?”

Maria stiffened slightly as Vash’s expression shifted, becoming more guarded.

“Perhaps,” Vash said carefully. Now he sounded a little older than his youthful appearance suggested. Weathered. Maria knew that tone more than well enough.

“What a dreadful lot,” Luida said with a shake of her head. “We have two of them sitting in cage 5. It seems these two women knocked them out by landing on top of them when they arrived.”

“Two?” Vash frowned.

“It seems your one enemy was made up of nine lives with a common drive,” Luida explained.

Maria’s expression shifted to one of disgust. “I know there’s a saying about cats having nine lives, but that’s over the top. People really run amok here, don’t they?”

“Unfortunately, they do,” Luida confirmed as Vash looked over at Maria with a curious, guarded expression. “And because we would prefer to prevent any more chaos such as this from taking place, the council will conduct their investigation and seal this ship off from the elements and people outside until we are sure it is safe to interact with the planet-side colony again.”

“...Luida…what about Sensei?” Vash looked between Maria and Luida with a cautious expression.

Luida ignored the question. “In any case, now you must rest your body.” She looked at Meryl and Millie. “Can I count on you two for a bit longer?”

“Ah—“

“Yes!” Millie answered cheerily over Meryl’s response.

“Thank you very much. If you have any questions about the technology here, please ask Jessica.” Luida looked at Maria. “I know you know how this technology works as well, but considering that you are here for a different reason, I’ll refrain from asking your assistance unless you feel like giving it.”

“Considering how many people are likely in need of medical attention, I’m willing to help where I can,” Maria replied with a nod.

“Good. Let’s keep the depressing talk to a minimum, then.” Luida clapped a hand on Maria’s shoulder. “You are a long-lost member of this family who has returned to us. I can think of a few people who would be more than willing to meet with you when you’re done here.”

Maria nodded as Vash continued to watch the two of them with a cautious expression.

Luida turned to look at the rest of the people trying to crowd into the room. “Okay, everyone! Back to the waiting room! We have a lot of work to do!”

There were some voicings of complaint, but the people who had come to make sure that Vash was doing all right backed out of the medbay and disappeared from sight. Luida left last, giving Maria and Vash a nod before closing the door behind her.

The silence in the room after all that noise could almost be felt. Maria felt Vash’s gaze on her as she moved away from his bed, but she didn’t return it until she had gone to fetch a chair and returned to his bedside with it.

Maria sat down in the chair as Meryl, Millie, and Jessica watched with curious eyes and Vash with his curious, cautious gaze.

“My name’s Maria,” Maria said. “I’m…I’m from Earth.”

Vash’s eyes widened sharply. “What—“

“I was sent here with the colony fleet as a scout, initially. But something apparently happened that caused the ships to crash, so I wasn’t woken up until those two found the remains of that ship.” Maria nodded to Meryl and Millie, who gave nervous-looking smiles when Vash looked at the two of them. “Belle – the Plant who had been keeping my cyro chamber going so that I wouldn’t end up passing on in my sleep – told me to find you to find out what’s going on on this world, and if there’s anything that I can do to help set things right.”

Vash looked at Maria again at her words, eyes wide with surprise. “So…you…but, how? You look like you’re just a kid, you can’t—“

“I haven’t been a kid since I was 16,” Maria replied. “And that was several decades before I was put in cold sleep on that ship.”

Vash stared blankly.

“Decades?” Meryl repeated. “What kind of technology did they have on Earth that kept people looking so young….?”

“This is something that is exclusive to me and my cousin Joshua,” Maria replied. “You won’t find the technology that we have anywhere else that Earth’s touched.” She waved off their dumbfounded looks. “I know that there’s something wrong – Luida hinted to as much when we talked. I want to find Joshua, but I can tell that the people here need some help, too. And you know this world better than anyone else can claim to, I bet.”

“W-well, I don’t know about that…” Vash rubbed the back of his head, then paused and looked Maria over again. “I-is it true, then? That you were called Flare-Up and Spark before? I didn’t think you had names other than those.”

Maria’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “So, you know _those_ names? How did you come across them?”

“I…I met your cousin, once. It was a long time ago, though – and he called himself Spark then. He did maintenance on Plants and ship tech, but not very many people knew that he was around.” Vash glanced over at Meryl and Millie, looking like he wanted to say more but unsure if he should or not.

“Sounds like him,” Maria said with a nod. “He preferred that we keep our identities secret in certain ways. But yes, I am Flare-Up. Others in other places call me Fire Storm, but that title hasn’t really stuck in many places as far as I know.”

“Why?” Millie asked.

Maria shrugged. “Preference, I guess? Flare-Up came first, so that likely has something to do with it. But that’s besides the point now.”

“I don’t want you to get involved if you’re not yet,” Vash said seriously. “ _He_ knows about you and Spark too – if he hears that you’re—“

“I don’t care, I’m going to get involved whether you like it or not. Besides, I’m _older_ than you, mister.” Maria booped Vash in the nose, causing him to go cross-eyed. “I may not know enough about this world as it stands right now, but I’m sure that with time I’ll be able to adapt pretty well, Besides, the people on this planet don’t know what happens when I unleash my full power on a planet that’s _already_ extremely warm. This place is boosting everything, so right now I’m physically holding back.”

Vash’s eyes widened sharply at that while Meryl and Millie looked at each other with wide eyes.

“So, it’s true?” Jessica asked. “That you – that you have a power that no one else does?”

Maria snorted and smirked. “That’s one way to put it.”

Vash swallowed, looking uncertain for a moment. Then his eyes narrowed. “Why are you telling us this? You could be keeping yourself a secret like Spark did from everyone else.”

“I am keeping things secret. Just because you know I have _a_ power doesn’t mean you know what my power _does._ Nor do you know every little bit of what I’m capable of.” Maria waggled a finger.

“You didn’t have to tell me,” Vash said.

Maria blinked, then raised an eyebrow.

“I…I sensed it. When I saw you – I don’t know how but….” Vash trailed off, his gaze flicking to Meryl and Millie again, who exchanged looks.

Maria steepled her fingers. “It has something to do with your heritage. That’s all I’ll say for now.”

“Hey, do you think we could check in on the other guys?” Millie asked. “I think we’ve bothered these two enough.”

“But—“

“Hey wai—“

Meryl’s and Jessica’s exclamations were cut off as Millie dragged the two of them back down the line of beds to the other side of the room.

Maria dropped her hands into her lap when the three of them were out of hearing range. “I know who you are, Vash. And I know that you can sense that I am more than human too.”

Vash stiffened. “How—“

“You’re not the only one who knows how to talk to Plants,” Maria said. “Out of the two of us, I was the one who talked to Belle first. I’m different enough that it was instinct that led to the initial contact.” She held out her hands. “How long have you been around? Since the colony ships landed?”

Vash hesitated, his eyes flicking between Maria’s chest and her face. After a moment, he swallowed and said, quietly, “Knives and I were born _on_ the ships. The one Spark was on. Him and Rem – they helped raise the two of us, at least a little.”

“Rem,” Maria murmured to herself. Her brow furrowed a little. “Yes, the head colony ship – I remember her being on staff. I never got the chance to meet her.”

“I wish you did. She…she saved us.” Vash hesitated. “Knives, he – he crashed the colony ships. He wanted everyone to die, but Rem managed to save enough of the ships that the people sleeping in them were able to come out and start building. I’ve been trying to keep them safe.”

“Well, now you’ve got some backup.” Maria patted his shoulder.

“I –“ Vash shook his head. “No. Knives’ll find you, like he found me.” He lifted his left arm, and Maria noticed that it was made of metal. A prosthetic. “I lost this to him. I don’t want you to lose anything because of me, either.”

“I’ve already lost more than an arm because of things that I’ve done,” Maria replied, leaning forward. “Joshua, too. I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s more _inhuman_ to me than there is _human._ I could live off the sunlight here alone for _years_ before I’d need to eat an actual meal. Josh, he – he could just stick his finger in a socket and he’d be _fine._ I can guess that your brother is dangerous, considering who the two of you are – but I have faced dangerous things and become dangerous, too. Don’t think that I’m anything less powerful than you for it.”

Vash’s eyes narrowed. “But—“

“Joshua told you that we’ve never killed anyone, hasn’t he?”

Vash cut himself off.

“It goes against who I am to see another die at my hands,” Maria said. “I don’t have the self-made mental block that I did when I was younger to prevent me from taking another person’s life, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to willingly see people end just because they stand in my way. I know better than that. Life is sacred and I have no reason to be the thing that ends others.”

Vash blinked. Then he started tearing up a little.

Maria snorted in amusement. “Hey, hey, no need for waterworks now.” She patted his shoulder again. “I’ve got your back. I’m sticking with you until this is finished. I’m going to need the whole story, though.”

“Uh…maybe later?” Vash looked over at Meryl and Millie as they started coming back up towards them again. “And I’d like the whole story from you – _and_ proof that you are who you say you are. Energy and words are one thing, but actions are something else.”

Maria nodded in agreement.

“It would probably be a good idea if you let Vash rest for a bit,” Millie said kindly. “You…wouldn’t mind, if you slipped out for a bit to let him sleep, would you?”

“I wouldn’t be against it,” Maria replied with a shrug. “I want to look the ship over anyway and make sure that everything is still running smoothly here.” She rose from her chair and nodded at Vash. “I’ll talk to you later, then?”

“Sounds good.” Vash gave a smile, but it wasn’t a strong one. “I’ll see you later.”

Maria gave a smile in return, then turned and started out of the room. As she went, she barely caught sight of Nicholas closing an eye as she passed by his bed.

Maria frowned a little. Nicholas had been traveling with Vash, but…was he to be trusted? Something told her she would get the answer soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna start posting three times a week next week.
> 
> Mostly because, not only am I done writing this, but I've got a ton of chapters on you guys and even posting three times a week will last for a while. Specifically until mid-April.
> 
> So...yeah.


	7. Familiar Contact

The ship seemed to be in good shape, despite the wear and tear that covered the outer shell as a result of the sand. Maria didn’t get into very many of the nooks and crannies over the few days she explored, however – she looked human and young enough that the guards at the door to the cold sleep chambers didn’t look like they were going to let her in after all the chaos, so she left them be and looked around the town that the people had made for themselves instead.

She was comfortable enough to be considered just an outsider at this point, rather than being known as one of the two missing planetary scouts. None of them asked questions of where she’d come from or why she had been traveling, which was nice.

It almost made Maria feel normal. Almost.

The fact that this place wasn’t Earth – wasn’t _home_ – wasn’t lost on her, and neither was the fact that she was entirely out of her element here. A stranger in a foreign land. Pretending it wasn’t her home dimension didn’t help – that honing beacon inside her told her that this was, in fact, her birth dimension.

All she could do now was adapt, and adapt she did.

“At least Joshua’s still around somewhere,” Maria murmured to herself. She leaned against a wall and wiped her brow after having helped collect some of the parts of puppets that had been scattered around the ship. “But Vash said he was _born_ on the ship – does that mean he met Joshua while he was doing maintenance on the actual ship or after…? I’ll have to ask him later. Which I could have asked what happened here – but at least most of the people who live here survived, that’s a good thing.”

Maria found her thoughts turning elsewhere – to the reason for all this trouble in the first place, apparently.

“Knives…just what kind of a person are you, then? If only Joshua was here or I had a communications array set up somewhere so I could _find_ you. Hmph. Really, cousin, you could have made it easier for the two of us to put our heads together.”

“Are you talking to yourself, Maria-san?”

“Hmm?” Maria looked up at the voice and caught sight of one of the children who had been running around the area. This part of the ship had been designed – or redesigned – to look more like a town than the inside of a colony ship, so kids poking their heads out of homes to watch what was going on apparently wasn’t uncommon.

This kid – a girl with her hair in pigtails – was looking at Maria with a particularly wide-eyed expression.

“It helps me think, sometimes,” Maria admitted. “I’m used to being more alone than I am at the moment, so old habits die hard.” She grinned, but the friendly showing of teeth looked a bit forced. “I’ll probably stop in a few days.”

“Oh.” The girl blinked. “Um, Councilwoman Luida said that you should find her. She wants to talk to you.”

“It’s that time already?” Maria tilted her head slightly. “Huh. I’d hardly noticed. So, where is she?”

The girl pointed over in the direction of a gathering of figures in what amounted to an intersection.

“All right. Thanks, kiddo.”

Maria moved away from the wall and over towards where the group of figures was standing. As she approached, she found that some of them were wearing robes like Luida did – more council members, likely. They turned and looked at her as she approached.

“You are Scout Maria, then?” one of them asked – an older man, who probably appeared to be the epitome of “wise elderly leader” of the council, but something told Maria he wasn’t.

She nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”

“You’re…younger in appearance than I was expecting. I suppose there are some things in our family’s tales that didn’t quite make it to the present.”

That surprised Maria. “You…you’re one of my nephews?”

Her question surprised a couple of the other people standing nearby.

“One of many, yes. I believe I can trace my line all the way back to Matthew, but I am not entirely certain.” The man’s expression hardened. “But that isn’t quite as important as what happened today, and what we will need to prepare ourselves for. We require your assistance, if you are willing to give it.”

“What do you need?” Maria responded instantly.

“We have a communications array trained on Earth, sending a distress signal in their direction. We have yet to get a response that is…specifically _human,_ but we are getting a response of some kind. The trouble is that our translation programs in the computer systems were corrupted in the crash. Do you think you could have a look at it?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” Maria cracked her knuckles, smirking a little when the men and women in front of her flinched at the sound. “What? I’m not human, I’m not bothered by doing this. You should know that by now, nephew of mine.”

“I-I always thought they were stories and nothing more!” the old man replied in surprise.

“There’s more to our family than meets the eye.” Maria winked at him. “Especially when it comes to me and Joshua. So, where’s your communications system?”

The council walked Maria away from the town that was set up in the middle of the ship and led her into a set of corridors which, from there, led them to a room filled with computer systems. Up high above their heads in the vaulted ceiling was a globe that looked reminiscent of the blue and green world that the people on this one had left behind centuries ago.

There were a couple people sitting at one of the consoles. One of them, a woman, had a pair of headphones on and a confused, annoyed look on her face.

The young man looked up as the group came in and quickly started to scramble to his feet, catching the woman’s attention as Luida held up a hand.

“At ease,” Luida said. “Any luck on deciphering the message yet?”

The young man shook his head. “It’s all just been sounding like gibberish to us; Lydia’s been trying to get the translation program to work for hours but it keeps shutting down before it can even start translating. She thinks there might be a bug in the system.”

“Let me have a listen,” Maria said, stepping forward. “I might be able to figure out what it is.”

“Uh—“

“What makes a kid like you think that you can decipher this static-y mess?” Lydia had pulled one of the padded speakers off her ear in order to hear the conversation. “It sounds like there’s something wrong with whatever machinery they’ve got on the other side, whatever it is! Parts have been grinding together in my ears for the last day or so!”

Maria blinked a couple times at that, then shook her head. “There’s only one language I know of that sounds like that, and it’s not one that humans can speak.” She motioned with one hand. “Let me have a listen.”

Lydia looked like she was about to protest, but then she caught sight of the look on Luida’s face and reluctantly handed over the headphones. “It’s pretty loud, so don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”

Maria nodded as she took the headphones in her hands, then looked them over for a moment before sliding them down over her ears.

The blast of static and metal scraping against metal and computer beeping made her wince for a second, but then her brow furrowed in concentration as the council, Lydia, and the young man with her watched with expectant – or annoyed – expressions.

“See, I told you—“

Maria held up a hand in a “wait” motion, cutting Lydia off. Her blue eyes flashed brighter, almost seeming to glow softly.

Then she opened her mouth and spoke with a metallic zap in her voice.

“This is Cybertron. We have received your message and are sending it on to Earth. Do what you can to locate the World Jumpers who came with you and alert them of the problem that is arising, if they have not been made aware of the situation already. We are sending a scouting force to see what the exact situation is and if there is anything that can be done. If you find Flare-Up, tell her Inferno is not going to let her leave her sight when they land. Slenderman out.”

Maria dropped her hand and took off the headphones. “The message repeats after that point. I came in in the last few seconds of the previous loop and it gave me enough time to identify the language.”

“Cybertron?” Lydia scoffed. “What kind of planet—“

“Allies,” Luida replied. “Ones that not many people are aware of, for good reason.” She looked at Maria. “Who is this ‘Inferno’?”

“A codename for a close friend,” Maria replied. There was something shining in her eyes now – the glow from before was gone, but there was something else in its place. An eagerness, almost. “Same for Slenderman – they’re codenames that were created during a war that ended when I was far, far younger. They have reason to use them now, since this communications array is so exposed. That, and speaking in their native language means that only certain people would be able to translate it.”

“So they _can_ speak English?” Lydia said in surprise. “You mean they’re – they’re not—“

Maria nodded. “They ended their war in secret on Earth. They had to make arrangements with the American Government at the time because they were staying in the Nevada desert. How could they not?”

A beep came off from the console.

“Another message?” the young man started over as Maria put the headphones on again. “Who could have—“

Maria sucked in a breath sharply, cutting the young man off and causing the others to look at her. Her eyes were wide, the excited shine in them fading quickly. She quickly moved to the console and started to grab a microphone, but then she stopped a few inches away from it before pulling back.

Then her fists clenched.

“What?” the young man asked worriedly.

Maria wordlessly removed the headphones and put them on the console. “A message from another source – not Cybertron, and not Earth.”

“From No Man’s Land?” Lydia asked. At the looks she got she snorted and added, “Well, I doubt there’s a planet nearby that has any civilized life or colonies that we could be in contact with.”

“It has to be,” Maria replied. “Because that message was from Joshua.”

The council members, Lydia, and her assistant exchanged looks.

“So, he’s still alive as well,” Luida comment.

“But there’s something wrong.”

The group looked back at Maria. Her shoulders were straight, and the look on her face was more grim, more concerned.

“Joshua said Knives wasn’t going to take to having Cybertronians on the planet too well. That he thinks of them as forced slaves of the human race.” Maria’s expression darkened. “Joshua’s voice was glitched, like something was forcing him to speak when he had been damaged to the point that he needs repairs – that’s rare for us.”

“Glitched?” Lydia repeated. “You – but you’re human, not—“

Maria pulled the headphone jack out of the console, and the sound of static filled the room.

_“Th-thi-this is Sp-spark. Kn-kn-kniveswi-will be-become a-a-aware o-of theirinvolve-volvement sh-shortly. H-he d-doesno-o-ot see Cy-cybertron a-a-as free. He s-s-eees them as—“_

Maria plugged the headphones back in, wincing at the sparking, stuttering voice of the young man who was speaking. “Glitched. He’s been damaged, and badly, but I don’t know where he is at this moment in time, nor do I know what damaged him. If he is aware of Knives and how he thinks, it’s likely that he is aware of Knives’ location, which means that I’ll be traveling with Vash when he leaves. Or attempting to follow after him if he tries to sneak out.”

The men and women in the room exchanged worried looks.

“It’s likely that your cousin has been taken captive by Knives, or was damaged by him,” Luida said.

“If that’s the case that simply gives me more motivation to find him,” Maria replied without missing a beat. “I’m leaving when Vash does.”

The group with her exchanged looks.

“Well, if that is your decision, World Jumper, than that is your decision,” Luida said evenly as the others looked at her sharply. “Is Vash aware of who exactly you are and what you are capable of?”

“He’s aware that I’m not human and that I’m far older than everyone on this planet,” Maria replied. “I don’t know if he is much more aware of who I am than that.”

“Well, if you are to be traveling with him, it would be best that you tell him soon,” Luida said. “After all, this is his trouble. He would rather the rest of us stayed out of it.”

Maria nodded. “I know that feeling. I’ll talk to him when he’s awake next.”

“Maybe you could go now,” Luida replied. “I think he would like to hear the news of what has just been translated here.”

Maria considered that, then nodded. “All right. If you will excuse me.” She stepped forward and moved out of the room.

Maria didn’t look back when Luida followed her down the corridor and towards the medbay. Instead, she commented, “You must be the leader of the council, if you have to get around from place to place and keep an eye on everything that is going on.”

“I am an important figure here, yes,” Luida confirmed. “Just as you are becoming one.”

“You certainly didn’t seem all that surprised when I translated what I heard.” Maria glanced back. “Does that mean you knew?”

“I had my suspicions, yes. I grew up knowing that you and your friend were…something else. I just didn’t have a name for beings who were capable of traveling to worlds that were treated as fiction by the rest of the world.”

“I see.” Maria inclined her head slightly.

The two of them reached the door of the medbay, and Luida paused.

“I will have a meal sent here for you,” Luida said. “And Vash and his friend, if they have not eaten yet.”

Maria gave a nod in reply. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Luida nodded, then slipped away from the door and let Maria walk inside the medbay alone.

Inside, Vash was sitting upright, looking over at Nicholas with an amused, relieved expression as the dark-haired man glared back at him with an annoyed, irritated expression. It looked like Maria was coming in on the tail end of an argument.

The two of them looked up as Maria entered the room, Nicholas blinking in surprise.

“What, no hoverboard this time?” the questionable preacher asked.

“Hoverboard?” Vash repeated.

“I don’t ride it when I can walk just as well,” Maria replied. She shrugged. “Especially since the ship isn’t in a state of disrepair.”

Vash nodded in agreement.

“All right, then.” Nicholas leaned back and looked at Maria with an expression that was calculating and cautious. “So, weird girl, what brings you here this time?”

“A couple things,” Maria replied lightly. “First – Vash, that distress signal that the people here has been sending out? They got a response.”

Vash’s eyes widened.

“People are coming to investigate. A few friends of mine, actually.”

Vash’s eyes widened even further. “Really?”

“Friends of yours?” Nicholas sounded doubtful. “What kinds of people do you have as friends, who are _still alive?_ If you are from Earth like you claim to be.”

Maria raised an eyebrow. “Did I _say_ these friends were human?”

Nicholas blinked a couple times. “What kinda friends aren’t human?”

“Lots of them,” Maria replied vaguely. She sat down in the chair she had dragged over to Vash’s bed – now noticing that it was between his and Nicholas.’ “So, we are getting some help in what’s going on with Knives. But there’s something else, too.”

“Something else?” Nicholas frowned. “There’s people off-planet who know about what is going on and are coming down to help who else. What else could there be?”

“I think my cousin is being used by Knives.”

Nicholas stared. Vash sucked in a breath sharply.

“He attached a message to the end of the one that we just received from Cybertron. His voice is glitched, he doesn’t sound like himself. I believe that he has been taken and changed somehow, or damaged to the point that he is going to need repairs.”

“Repairs…?” Nicholas muttered.

“So…that’s true, too?” Vash was wide-eyed. “And if that is, then –“

Maria nodded. “Joshua and I are...different. Not like humans, not like Plants. We’re something else altogether, and considering that there’s a chance Knives has my cousin? He’s going to know about me and he’s going to want to get his hands on me, too.”

Vash and Nicholas exchanged looks.

“I was planning on getting involved in what is happening. The knowledge that Joshua is involved as well isn’t going to change that. It’s just that what I am going to _do_ has changed.” Maria’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Can I travel with the two of you, in order to find and rescue my cousin, as well as assist in putting a stop to whatever it is that is happening on this world?”

Maria fell silent as the two men looked between her and each other and Meryl and Millie came in, dragging in a cart with food trays behind them.


	8. Cold Sleep

Vash was up on his feet sooner than Nicholas was – considering they were both hurt, it should have rung a few bells, but Maria knew who Vash was and let his need to move around and help with the cleanup slide.

Maria raised an eyebrow at Vash – wearing a loose shirt and slacks– as he moved over to the pile of puppet parts and picked up something from the pile. She stuck her hands in her pockets as he moved something between his fingers before hiding it away somewhere on his person.

“Vash! Maria!”

Maria and Vash turned their heads as Millie and Meryl came over to the two of them.

Vash smiled as Millie waved at the two of them cheerily. “Hey! Perfect timing – there’s something that I wanted to show you two.” He looked over at Maria. “Do you want to come along?”

“To where?” Maria asked, raising an eyebrow.

Vash blinked. “To the cyro chambers.” His tone suggested it was obvious.

“The cyro chambers?” Meryl repeated. She sounded a little confused and a little surprised at the same time.

“Sure, I don’t see why not. Wait.” Maria frowned. “Are you saying there are people who are still—“

Vash nodded. “Yup.”

“Then I’m _definitely_ coming along.”

The two women looked at the two of them with confused expressions.

“Let me get my coat – it’s going to be cold in there.” Vash nodded to Meryl and Millie. “The two of you should get something warm to wear, too.”

“What about her?” Meryl nodded to Maria.

Maria shook her head. “None of the coats would fit well. Besides, I’m more resistant to certain kinds of weather than I appear to be.”

Meryl looked doubtful at that, but Millie’s wide eyes seemed to suggest she believed every word.

“There should be coats near the cyro chamber, but I’m just gonna grab mine because it’s really the only thing that’ll fit.” Vash gave a sheepish grim. “Come on!”

Swinging by the medbay – and finding Nicholas gone and taken the IV with him – Vash went digging around in a pile of things in the corner and pulled out a tall, red coat as big as he was.

“That’ll protect you from the cold?” Meryl asked, frowning.

“Well, yeah – the people here designed it so that I’d be able to hang out on the desert after dark and I wouldn’t have to worry about freezing to death.” Vash pulled the coat on easily. “They’ve helped me out a lot, and I always make it a point to come back when I can.” He buttoned the coat up with an expression of fondness. “I don’t know what I would be able to do without them.”

Maria’s expression softened into a smile at his words, and she nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Having people around you is a pretty important thing.”

Something in her voice caused Vash to nod knowingly while Meryl and Millie looked at her with confused expressions.

Millie’s expression softened. “You must really miss your family, don’t you?”

Maria bowed her head a bit and nodded. “Yeah. It…it’s been a long time, since I’ve been able to really think about them. Honestly, Joshua is the only living family I have left from…from when I was younger. The rest of my close relatives had already passed a long time before Joshua and I set foot on the colony ships. Now he’s really the only family I have left, other than my close friends on Cybertron.”

“Cyber-what?” Meryl repeated in confusion.

Maria waved off the question and shook her head. “I probably shouldn’t’ve mentioned them yet. Point is, I have few alive friends, and even fewer alive family members. And I don’t know what exactly the future’s gonna hold for all of us – yet.”

The testy tone in Maria’s voice kept Meryl and Millie from asking any more questions about Maria or what parts of her past they might have been curious about. As a result, the trek to the cyro chamber was quiet – perhaps unusually so for Meryl and Millie, but Maria wasn’t about to comment on their silence.

There wasn’t a guard in front of the large, airlock-type door that Vash led them to.

Meryl’s eyes widened sharply. “Hey – is this the place where everyone who came on these ships was supposed to be until we got to a—“

“Yes, that’s right.” Vash moved over to the door and started turning the hatch. It seemed that he was used to doing this.

“But – but wouldn’t that mean there should be someone guarding this place or something? To keep it from getting broken into and—“

“No one here’s going to do that,” Vash replied evenly. “And besides, the people who might have at one point were the people who tried to…kill everyone here a few days ago.” His expression hardened – it looked unusual for his face to be capable of such an expression – but it softened again a moment later when he finished turning the wheel on the hatch and pulled it back. “Come on – most people leave this part of the ship alone, and for obvious reasons.”

Vash motioned for the three women to follow him inside as he stepped into the dark chamber on the other side of the hatch. A colder burst of air could be felt coming from inside it.

Millie, even with wearing a coat, shivered a little. “I haven’t felt a cold like this before.”

“We’re basically walking into a room with a lot of ice in it,” Maria replied. “It’s a different sort of cold than what you would feel out in the desert.” She stepped through the hatch and into the room on the other side, Meryl and Millie hesitating for only a moment before following after her.

The soft gasp that Millie gave caused Maria to smile a little as she looked around at the large, cylindrical chamber they had just stepped into. She knew it took up most of the ship – Joshua had shown her the designs, way back in the beginning.

_“You’ll likely be in cyrosleep for most of the trip – they need me to help with maintenance whenever the ships don’t have someone awake on them to keep an eye on the fleet’s progress, and that will be me. I’ll come and check in on you sometimes, but I don’t know if I’ll have the clearance to wake you up for even a little while.”_

The smile faded a little at the memory of her cousin’s voice – clear and matter-of-fact. A stark contrast to the glitchy voice that had come over the communications system a few days ago.

“This place is _huge_!” Millie exclaimed in a quiet voice. “Did all the ships look like this on the inside?”

“Yes,” Maria replied with a nod. “All filled with people who were looking for a better life beyond what they could find on Earth.”

Vash nodded. “Your grandparents slept for a long time in a cylinder like this, before the colony ships crash-landed here. Some of the people they boarded the ships with are still sleeping here.”

“Why haven’t they woken up yet?” Meryl asked, frowning.

“That has more to do with the people running this ship now than it does with the computer systems,” Maria replied. She folded her arms across her chest and looked around, not at all thrown off by the cold in the room. “A ship like this has limited resources; it can only support so many people at once. And besides, why would you want to awaken people from their dreams when it seems to them that they only just left Earth yesterday? Awakening here, only to find out what their living arrangements are, would only make it seem to them that Earth was a paradise.”

“Even with living in a nice ship like this?” Millie asked.

“They’re going to want to get out sometime.” Maria shrugged. “Get some fresh air. Explore the world. Finding out that it’s nothing but desert for miles isn’t going to make very many of them happy.”

“As far as I know, the people here plan on awakening them gradually, or just leaving them to sleep until they can get a response from Earth in order to get some people here to rescue us or improve things as they stand,” Vash explained. His gaze wasn’t on them, but on the glass cylinders that were embedded into the walls around them. ”Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a response from them soon, and then lives will get to be better than they are now.”

“Contact Earth?” Meryl sounded doubtful. “Is such a thing really possible? That planet sounds like nothing more than a fairy tale.”

“We had to come from somewhere.” Maria shrugged. “Just because most people call this planet home now doesn’t mean that it was where humanity began.”

Vash gave an absent-sounding hum in response, still looking around at the room around them. From what Maria could see, he seemed almost peaceful here.

“I hope that the people here can wake up one day in the future and find themselves in a peaceful world,” he said. “After everything that’s happened, they definitely deserve some peace, without having to worry about losing the lives of friends and family around them.”

Maria was about to nod in agreement when she heard the sound of something moving around quickly in the dim light. She stiffened slightly, inclining her head at the sound.

Vash didn’t seem to notice – or was pretending not to notice, Maria wasn’t entirely sure which. Millie’s eyes were moving around a little, attempting to track the sound.

As the sound got louder, Meryl’s brow furrowed.

A pair of figures with abnormally large heads sprung up from behind Meryl and Millie, screaming at the tops of their lungs. “KIIIII—“

Maria _moved._

Meryl and Millie barely saw the red and orange blur as Maria leapt up. There was a flash of light from something in Maria’s hand, and then a barking cry of “ _Shock Wave!”_

The following blast of bright yellow electricity cut the two screaming voices off with a shriek and sent them blasting back into the wall on either side of the hatch.

Maria landed on the metal floor behind Meryl and Millie as the two women whirled to look at what had just happened.

“Where did that come from?” Millie asked in surprise, gaze on the red staff in Maria’s left hand. The strange-looking creature carved into the top looked like some kind of toma, wings outstretched, but there was a fiery affect added to it.

Vash looked at Maria with wide eyes as she got out of the crouch she had landed in.

The sound of footsteps and yells started to come from the corridor as Maria tightened her grip on the staff, her knuckles nearly turning white as the sparks flying from the bodies of the two large-headed, small-bodies figures faded.

“You two were a part of the group that was attacking this place,” Maria said in a grim tone. She didn’t sound like a teenager now. “Who are you?”

One of the two looked up with a crazed expression. Maria’s lips attempted to curl back when she was able to see that his hair was growing in patches, and these two figures – too wild in the eyes to be called “men” – were wearing nothing but rags.

“We are NineLives,” the creature said.

“I see,” Maria said flatly. She tapped her staff against the metal floor; it echoed in the chamber. “So, someone decided to take the idea of cats having nine lives and twisted it. I don’t appreciate that very much.”

Her words were clipped short. Meryl took a couple steps back from the sound of it, only for Vash to slip between her and Millie to stand right behind Maria.

Figures appeared in the doorway then – Nicholas, with the IV on its stand in one hand, looking about ready to jump into the fray himself, Luida and a couple armed men. As soon as they saw that there was electricity sparking from somewhere on either side of the door – and that Maria was carrying a staff she hadn’t had before – they paused.

“The two parts of NineLives are paralyzed presently.” Maria motioned to either side of the door with her staff. “It might be wise if you grabbed them and put them in a more secure cell before the paralysis wears off; it will only hold for so long.”

The two men took a second to get over their surprise, and when they had they moved into the room and grabbed the two creatures that used to be men before carrying them off as they shrieked curses.

“We won’t forget this!”

“You will be haunted by us for the rest of your life!”

“For the rest of _your_ lives, maybe,” Maria muttered.

Wolfwood stepped into the room and looked around before focusing his attention on the four people standing in front of him. “You guys all right?”

“We’re fine,” Meryl replied. “Thanks to Maria – which, by the way, _where_ did that come from?” She pointed at the staff in Maria’s hand.

“It’s something that I’ve always been able to do,” Maria replied. Now that the two creatures had been dragged out, the others saw there was a tiredness to her face, and a slump in her shoulders. “I’m just glad I was quick enough with it this time – those two were armed.”

“Most people are these days,” Nicholas said. He looked over at Vash, and Maria followed his gaze just as Vash lowered his prosthetic hand from a ready position. “If you hadn’t done anything, I bet he would have. Even if it meant possibly getting his arm blown off.”

“Hey now.” Vash frowned at Nicholas. “I’m not planning on getting _anything_ blown up in this room – not when there are too many lives in here that were placed in danger!” He shook his head. “Just thinking about what could have happened…it’s a terrifying thought!” He stiffened. “Right! Areas 3070-4070 – they would have had to pass through there in order to get here from the cells. Brother Garcia, the Reeves, Melro-san – they all live over in that area. I’m going to go make sure they’re okay!” He dashed out of the chamber and turned a corner sharply, disappearing down the hall.

Meryl and Millie were left standing there, looking a little dumbfounded. Nicholas looked more annoyed than anything else.

Maria sighed and relaxed her grip on the staff. Just when it looked like it was going to fall to the floor, it dispersed in a flash of red-gold sparkles that looked like embers. “Let’s get out of here. I’d rather not have more cold escape than we’ve already let slip out.” She started for the door.

Millie and Meryl quickly followed after, and Maria pushed the door shut, leaving her, Millie, Meryl, Nicholas and – surprisingly – Luida standing out in the corridor.

“What are you?”

Maria looked over at Meryl at the question, raising an eyebrow. “In what manner?”

Meryl spluttered. “How did you just – just _summon_ that from out of nowhere? I haven’t seen anything release a blast of electricity like that before – and what was with your demeanor in there just now?! You sounded like a – like a sheriff who has been at war with outlaws for years! There’s no way that you’re old enough to have—“

“Maria is different from what we understand humans to be,” Luida spoke up in a casual tone. “That is why she was chosen as one of the two scouts for the colony fleet. She and her cousin, Joshua, have skills that we do not have, and powers that we might not normally comprehend as something that could be passed down.”

“So, what, their dads got a little frisky and decided they wanted to try it with a Plant or—“

“Ex _cuse you!”_ Maria barked sharply, cutting Nicholas off. “For a pastor you are very dirty minded, _sir!”_

Nicholas flinched. Maria’s tone was jabbingly sharp.

Maria huffed and folded her arms across her chest. “My parents were normal humans, and the same goes for Joshua’s. What makes us different mostly happened _after_ birth, not before. In my case, my father came into contact with something that gave me a part of my talents, nothing more. Had intercourse with Plants my _foot.”_

Nicholas looked thrown off at Maria’s response. Millie put her hands on her hips and frowned at him disapprovingly.

“Really, Pastor-san! You should know by now that Plants _can’t_ have that kind of a relationship with anyone!” Millie said sharply. “It just doesn’t work!”

“Like I know _all_ the details of those things,” Nicholas muttered in reply.

Maria huffed. “My cousin studied them, but I learned how to communicate with them first. They can’t live very well in our dimension – they can’t survive off the air we breathe. As soon as one steps out of those bulbs, they suffocate. The best thing that Joshua ever did was design a dimensional backdoor so that they could slip out if things got to be too bad, but most choose to stay and use up all the power they have to help us.”

“How do you know that?” Meryl asked.

“Belle told me.”

Maria’s answer was straight and simple and it left Meryl and Nicholas looking a little gobsmacked.

“Who?” Nicholas asked.

“A Plant.” Maria’s expression softened a little as Nicholas’ eyes widened. “They can talk to me just as well as anyone else, it’s just that most people don’t think to try.”

Luida seemed interested. “Do you have access to your cousin’s notes? I think our engineers here would love to be able to speak with the Plants themselves.”

Maria tilted her head slightly, considering. “It’s likely he left a copy encoded into the data in the R&D branch here. I’ll locate it and make it public so that the engineers make use of it, but I think I’ll need to be present when they first attempt to initiate contact. It might make things smoother – might.”

“Very well then. If you’ll lead the way.” Luida motioned down the hall.

Maria gave Luida a nod in return, then started down the hall, leaving Nicholas, Meryl, and Millie staring after her with wide, confused eyed.

Whatever questions they might have had on their minds, they likely had only increased.


	9. Earth Contact

“Long-distance communications?” Nicholas looked up from his meal. “You mean, that message thing that Maria mentioned before?”

Vash nodded as Jessica and the young man who was sitting with them – Brad – looked back and forth between the two men. Maria glanced up from her own meal for a moment, then looked back down and finished off the plate. “Yeah. That’s why we have food here that you can get out there – most of the Plants are being focused on those communications.”

“Oh.” Nicholas looked down at his plate again as Maria finished off hers. “So…you’re what, using a satellite to do this? Like what we use for our radios to communicate between towns?”

“Something like that, but it’s one specifically for between-planet communications,” Vash replied.

“I could use it to communicate with people at home, but the bandwidth is being taken up by the distress message and I don’t have anyone to talk to,” Maria spoke up. “I can’t use the satellites around the planet very well, either, since my way of communicating is so different from what is being used by everyone else.”

Nicholas gave them blank looks.

Vash observed Nicholas’ expression for a moment, then pushed himself to his feet. “Let’s go and have a look, shall we, Wolfwood?”

“Hey!” Nicholas frowned. “You think I don’t understand?”

“Not at all, not at all.” Vash waved off Nicholas’ glare with one hand as he placed his other arm across the man’s shoulders. “I just think that it’s worth seeing, that’s all.”

Maria snorted, a half-smile starting to work its way across her face as she rose to her feet. “I’ll come along with you two; I want to see if they’ve figured out how to get the translator working yet. I’ve done some work on it and I want to see if there’s anything else that can be done.”

“Haven’t you been helpin’ the engineers with communicatin’ with the Plants?” Brad pointed out with a frown.

“I have been,” Maria replied. “But I think they’re getting a good enough handle on knowing how things work that I don’t think there will be any problems in leaving them to their own devices for now. Joshua’s notes were thorough enough, and they got a lot of the awkward questions out of the way first. The Plants know they have a lot to learn yet; they’ll be patient.”

Vash nodded as Brad’s eyebrows rose. “That’s good.” He smiled, looking relieved. “I’m glad that you’re able to help breach that gap between us.”

“I have a habit of doing that,” Maria replied.

Nicholas looked at Maria strangely at that. “First the thing with that magic staff, then you know how to talk to Plants and it’s so ridiculously easy none of the rest of us were able to figure it out – what next? That you’ve got some more power tucked away that we don’t know about?”

Maria shrugged her shoulders and put her hands in her pockets. “Well, that’s for me to know and for you to find out, isn’t it?”

Nicholas scowled.

“Come on, Wolfwood, let her keep her secrets,” Vash said. “If she didn’t keep them secret, she’d probably be more on-guard than she is right now, you know?”

Nicholas grunted, but he didn’t protest against Vash’s comment or the fact that the blond was practically pushing him out the door of the dining hall. Maria followed after them at a relaxed pace, hands still in her pockets and a relaxed expression on her face.

“…so, how exactly _do_ you talk to a Plant?” Nicholas asked after a moment. Vash had stopped pushing against his back and the two of them were walking shoulder-to-shoulder, Maria a couple steps behind them. “Do you have to get in the bulb or—“

“I’m not sure a human would be able to survive being in there,” Maria replied. “No, no – just put your hand up to the glass of the bulb and wait for them to do the same on the other side – or put your hand up after they do, if they want to talk to you first. It’s a mental connection.”

“Mental connection? You mean those things are…psychic?”

“Essentially? From what I understand, the Plants are basically a hive mind, but there are distinct personalities within the hive mind that make up the different Plants. Each one has a different feeling to their voice.” Maria frowned a little. “How do I explain this…? They don’t speak with words, but more with feelings and visions. And these feeling and visions are accompanied by a secondary feeling of something akin to a texture or sound that we might hear in the physical world.”

“Texture or sound?” Nicholas frowned. “Like what?”

“Well, Belle – one of the Plants that I got to know – her mental voice sounded like bells jingling. That was the distinct impression I got when I asked for her name.”

“Oh.” Nicholas blinked a couple times. “So, a Plant could sound like a thing, but they can also feel like a thing?”

“Yeah, like soft fabrics or cold plastic or metal, or a specific object or sensation, like a hug or something like that.” Maria shrugged. “It’s different depending on the Plant’s own nature.”

“Huh.” Nicholas inclined his head slightly. “I didn’t know that.”

“Not many do.” Maria chuckled. “I’m glad that at least the people here can know about that, though. I don’t know how well something like that would go over outside of this place.”

Vash’s small smile faltered a little at that.

Nicholas snorted. “Yeah, the people out there would definitely be suspicious of a little girl who knows more about Plants than anyone else does. And if you’re really set on travelin’ with us, you’re not gonna do too well with tryin’ to get the word out.”

Maria frowned at that. “We’ll have to see how things go. I’m hoping that things won’t go too far out of control.”

“What’s your definition of that?”

Maria raised an eyebrow at him, not looking the least bit thrown off. “An event where things get so bad that the universe starts to collapse in on itself and it needs to be reset before everything winks out of existence.”

The two exchanged looks at Maria’s oddly serious statement.

Nicholas snorted and shook his head. “That’s ridiculous. Like that’s gonna happen.”

Maria could hear there was caution in his voice. Like he didn’t entirely believe what it was that he was saying.

She wondered what exactly it was that he knew.

The three of them made the rest of their way to the communication hub of the ship, Nicholas looking around the area with an expression of awe.

“A visitor?” spoke up an old man sitting at one of the terminals – he didn’t look familiar to Maria. “How unusual.”

“We’re gonna take a look around, Kaiser-san,” Vash said respectfully.

Kaiser gave a nod in return as Maria raised an eyebrow at him.

“Is that it?” Nicholas’ gaze was fixed on the globe of Earth and the moon-like satellite orbiting it, high above their heads. “This ship’s sending messages to home? To Earth?”

“Yep.” Vash looked over at him. “For nearly a hundred years, they’ve been transmitting messages.”

“Wow….”

“Have you been trapped on this planet for longer?” Maria asked. “I assume that you have not been sending messages ever since the moment you crashed.”

“It did take us some time to get the system running, yes,” Kaiser spoke up. “But we are a patient people, if only out of necessity. I am told you are the one who translated the message from the other planet for us? I am thankful for that – Lydia was going out of her mind!” He chuckled a little.

Maria gave a slightly shaky smile in response. “Just helping where I am needed.”

“Grant us hope to reach tomorrow,” Nicholas muttered. “Amen.”

The alarms that started going off seconds later caused one of the men at the nearby terminals to move quickly to see why the alarm was going off.

Maria turned her head sharply at the sound, eyes widening. “That’s—“

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” rang out a young man’s voice. Maria watched as a man scrambled to grab a printout of something as Luida ran over – she hadn’t even noticed that the woman was in the area. “0408 16’s radio telescopes all got it! We got the password and archive on the first message – it’s even got a proper English ‘Read Me!’”

The young man looked over the message quickly, then grinned and looked up. “No mistake about it. We hit the jackpot.”

“Well hurry up, man! What does it say?!” yelled someone impatiently.

The man looked down at the print-out as more people started coming into the communication hub. “Uh…’Dear Comrades, a century has passed. We are most pleased that we may once again recognize each other’s existence.’”

“An acknowledgement packet transmission?” Brad spoke up suddenly.

“So it would seem,” Kaiser commented, hand to his chin in thought.

“Then they’ve done it?” asked another man, hopeful. “They’ve managed to build warp drives?”

Maria tilted her head slightly at that. “I wonder….”

“Hmm?” Nicholas looked over at her, but Maria shook her head.

“Don’t worry about it,” Maria said. “It’s nothing.”

It really wasn’t. They had allies on Cybertron – allies who might have, at one point, been willing to share technology with their neighbors on Earth, even if the distance was a large one. Either the Cybertronians had not shared what technology they had, or the humans had seen it and quickly learned to create their own through trial and error.

“That means that in a matter of years, the ships will arrive!” someone cried.

 _Or far sooner,_ Maria considered. There were Cybertronians coming – when they landed and caught wind of what exactly was going on…

“Everyone, thank you,” Luida called. “And, moreover, congratulations.”

The cheers that went up were nearly deafening – nearly. Maria shook her head a little at the sound, but didn’t seem to be the least bit startled by it. She caught sight of Vash and Knives exchanging fist bumps and high-fives behind them in a silent celebration of their own. She got the feeling it was a secret handshake of some kind.

Cries started going up seconds later as Millie and Meryl stumbled into the room, eyes looking a bit hazy as they proclaimed how historical this moment was.

“TONIGHT, WE GET WASTED!” a man roared.

Maria snorted in amusement and rolled her eyes as Millie and Meryl dragged Vash and Nicholas out of the room, Vash protesting to being pulled out and into the dining hall so quickly.

“Are you capable of getting drunk, Maria?”

Maria looked up at the question and raised an eyebrow at Luida. “What makes you ask that?”

“Well, none of us are certainly going to be able to avoid joining the rest of them for long, and I was curious.” Luida smiled a little, looking amused and at the same time relieved. Relieved that a message had come back to them, confirming that people from Earth were coming.

“I can drink, I can handle my drink, and I do not get drunk,” Maria replied calmly. She grinned. “Which means that if anyone tries to drink me under the table they are going to find themselves sorely losing!”

“I’d like to see that!” Brad barked over with a laugh. “You’re on!”

“So be it! You’re going to find yourself with a sore head in the morning!” Maria taunted in return. She grinned widely – a sight that had not been seen on her since she had awoken in Meryl’s and Millie’s company. “If people from home are coming here, I see no problem in partying from dusk until dawn! Let’s do this!”

“Yeah! I’ll get things set up in the dining hall, kid!”

Brad rushed out of the room, but Maria didn’t follow him or the rest of the crowd right away. She moved back to the communication terminals instead as Kaiser started to clean up.

The old man raised an eyebrow at Maria as she picked up a set of headphones. “Just what are you attempting?”

“I’m sending a message to Cybertron,” Maria replied. “I just need a moment to calibrate something and…. There. Okay.”

Maria took in a breath, exhaled, then started to make a series of noises that sounded like they should have come from a computer with whirring machine parts.

Of those who remained in that room, only she understood what it was she was saying.

**“Flare-Up to Cybertron, Flare-Up to Cybertron. Inform the scouting party coming to this No Man’s Land that this is a desert. If Inferno is a member of that party, inform her that this planet has the effect of a Groudon’s Drought, and that her power should be held back. She will understand.”**

Maria paused for a moment, then added, **“Cousin Spark’s location is unknown at this time. I have reason to suspect that he is in a situation that is less than ideal. I shall be looking for him and awaiting your arrival. Flare-Up out.”**

Maria waited a couple seconds, then nodded to herself and pulled the headphones off.

“When Lydia said you could translate that language, but I wasn’t aware that you could speak it as well,” Kaiser noted as Maria put the headphones on the terminal. “Humans shouldn’t be able to mimic something of that sort.”

“Most, yes,” Maria replied. She smiled and chuckled. “I’m not like most.”

“That I gather.” Kaiser nodded to the terminal. “Is that all you intended to do here?”

“For now, yes. If I ever come back here and I haven’t met with Inferno and the others yet, I would like to see if they have left any messages here.” Maria patted the terminal, then nodded to Kaiser and made her way out of the communications room.

The party was loud, mostly because of how much alcohol people were drinking and their reason to celebrate. Maria saw Vash dancing about with a brightly-colored band of fabric around his head – according to those around her, he couldn’t hold his liquor and never had been able to, which was amusing.

Considering the sort of person he was, how long he had lived, and a number of other factors, she had _thought_ he would have been able to hold his alcohol and not get drunk so quickly.

By contrast, she outdrank everyone who challenged her and didn’t get to be the least bit buzzed, not only impressing Nicholas – who raised a glass in her direction after the fifth man hit the floor – but keeping most of the rest of the people there from challenging her to something that didn’t seem to visibly affect her.

The partying lasted long enough for everyone to pass out at the tables in the dining hall. Maria settled in the back corner of the room and made it seem as though she had eventually passed out from her own eating and drinking.

It would make her seem more human, for at least a little while.

**Space Break**

Knives sensed Vash’s joy and knew what it meant. A low snarl echoed across the room.

His little experiment stiffened at the sound and looked towards him attentively.

“Have any other messages been sent or received?” Knives asked coldly.

“One. E-earth s-s-sent a mess-message.”

Knives’ gaze sharpened, but his experiment did not move from where it had been placed in front of the remains of a computer terminal. They both had come from a colony ship, and Knives thought it best that the two of them were put together, to see how well they would work. So far, they worked rather well.

“I see.” Knives rose to his feet. “In that case, then I think it is time that I send them a message of my own. Monitor their messages; if anything interesting arises, inform me.”

The head nodded.

“Good.”

And Knives was gone.

A series of sparks ran down the figure’s spine, causing him to shudder and shake his head. Glowing blue, indigo eyes flickered and focused.

“Maria,” he rasped. “Be careful.”


	10. Move Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So....guess who forgot to post a chapter last week Thursday and decided to double-up today?
> 
> Well, at least we're still on track for being done by mid-April this way.

The next morning, Maria was one of the few people awake who didn’t happen to have a headache.

But that didn’t matter when something had happened in the night.

“Something’s happened!”

Maria turned her head sharply at the shouting coming from the communication hub as others stirred. Vash was, strangely, already pushing himself to his feet before the shout had gone out.

“The connection with the signal – it’s been disrupted! It’s like it’s gone!”

Maria pushed herself to her feet as the others groggy figures in the room stumbled to sit upright, then up to their feet. Frowning, she started towards the communication hub, then paused when someone in a red cloak moved past her.

Maria promptly turned on her heel and followed after Vash as he slipped out of the dining hall, suddenly much more sober than the others.

As soon as they got out into the empty hall, Maria asked pointedly, “It was him, wasn’t it?”

Vash paused, standing in front of a room that he had taken temporarily during his stay. He looked at Maria with a guarded expression. She noticed the black hair that had been hidden under his blond hair up until this moment, considering that his hair was now up in spikes.

“As a World Jumper,” he said carefully, “did you see anything?”

Maria blinked at the question, then shook her head. “This is something that is expected to happen in the way things go; if I get any visions, then there is something that’s changed in the storyline. I’m not really sure how else to explain what it is that I’m capable of in that regard.”

“So that was supposed to happen?” Vash frowned. “That doesn’t seem right.”

“Nothing about this seems right.” Maria shook her head as Vash disappeared into the room, leaving the door open behind him. “Your brother is someone I would like to be able to meet and talk with on civil terms, but if he throws a tantrum if we contact people off-planet, then that’s a problem. I don’t care if this is something that is supposed to happen here, _I’ve_ become involved now, and I do not want to see any more lives lost than there already have been.”

Vash came out of the room, a cylindrical-shaped pack on his back and his hair sticking up like the bristles of a broom. “You said you can kill, though.”

“I can. I choose not to.” Maria nodded slightly.

“You’re leaving at this hour?”

Maria and Vash turned at the questioning voice and caught sight of Brad leaning against a wall, arms folded across his chest.

Vash started to say something, then shook his head and gave a small smile. “It looks like I don’t have much time left.”

“We lost contact with the satellite.” Brad’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Do you think it was….”

Vash’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Probably. But don’t tell anyone except for Luida. People would just worry.” He turned and started down the hall again, taking long strides. Maria had to move quickly in order to keep up with him.

“Oi, wait!” Brad moved after them; Maria looked back at him as Vash stopped again. “At least…at least say something to Jessica before you leave. She, uh, you—“

“Brad.” Vash cut him off. “It’s okay. I’ll come back. Besides, if she started asking questions, my face would give it away. Sorry.” He looked sheepish.

Vash moved on down the hall and towards the door that was slowly opening wide enough to let a couple people move through the opening.

Only to catch sight of Nicholas standing on the platform, arms folded in front of him in an attempt to protect him from the wind. His cross-like gun was bound up in cloth and leaning against him.

“What took you so long, Spikey?!” Nicholas demanded. “I’m catching a cold out here!”

“What are you doing out here?” Vash demanded.

“Don’t you mean ‘thanks’?” Nicholas responded shortly. “As long as ‘he’ is around, it’s not over, right? So you need me around.” He looked at Maria and frowned. “And you’re planning on coming with us too, huh?”

“He’s got my cousin.” Maria inclined her head slightly. “I don’t intend to let him do as he likes with him. Joshua isn’t a drone to be used, despite his mechanical parts.”

Something about her words caused Nicholas’ eyebrows to rise, but he didn’t say anything. There was something odd with the look in his eyes, like he knew something. His expression became much more guarded a moment later as Maria raised an eyebrow at him.

“I hope you can understand that I do not intend to let family fall,” Maria added. “Joshua is the only family I have left alive from my generation. I do not intend to lose him.”

The grim, serious tone in her voice caused Nicholas and Vash to look at her. Nicholas looked surprised, but Vash’s expression was more sorrowful and sympathetic.

“So let’s go,” Maria said. “I’d rather not give Knives more time to pick my cousin’s brain.”

Vash winced. “Yeah, that would be a bad idea.”

“How bad?” Nicholas didn’t look like he was shivering against the wind so much anymore as they made their way back over to the gondolas that were waiting to send passengers over to the mainland.

“Joshua knows everything that could ever be known about technology – especially concerning his own inventions. He kept a lot of projects close to his chest back on Earth.” Maria fixed Nicholas with a pointed look as she moved into the gondola. “That kind of knowledge isn’t something that should be accessed by someone that I’d be willing to say is borderline psychotic at the moment.” She looked over at Vash and added, “No offense meant.”

Vash shook his head as they settled in the gondola and the machinery started moving them off and away from the ship. “I-it’s all right. There are…a lot of things, that have happened that could make him think in…certain ways. I wish he didn’t.”

“Wait. This kid knows?” Wolfwood looked at Maria.

“I’m older than you _and_ Vash,” Maria replied flatly. “Don’t think that I’m inexperienced in matters of this world just because of my physical age. Meryl and Millie filled me in with everything from their perspective. I would appreciate yours from the moment this chaos started recently. Perhaps, when you met Vash and on to when you got to the colony ship? I’d like as many sides as possible so that I’m ready for what’s coming.”

Nicholas blinked a couple times at Maria’s serious tones and her questions, then shrugged one shoulder. “Sure, I guess.”

The story that followed sounded slightly rehearsed to Maria’s ears – finding Vash and the girls on a bus traveling through a desert and the chaos that followed, with every single run-in with the Gung-Ho Guns – otherwise known as Knives’ minions. Each run-in so far ended in the minion dying, which only caused Maria’s expression to become more and more grim.

By the end of the story, the three of them were standing in the building on the other side of the chasm. Maria had her arms folded across her chest and tilted her head slightly.

“Quite the mess this world has become,” Maria commented finally. “At least we know that the people of Earth are coming – and if we lost contact with them for the moment, that likely means they are going to try and pick up the face and reach us before things get any worse.”

“And then there’s your Cybertron friends, whoever they are,” Nicholas muttered. “What do you think they’re gonna do when they land, huh? Knives probably knows they’re coming, too.”

“But they’re not human,” Maria pointed out. “He’s more likely to leave them alone than the Earth ships, but I do admit the chances of that are likely slim. We’ll have to wait and see how things turn out in that regard, but in the meantime, let’s focus on what we can do. Where are we going next?”

Nicholas and Vash looked at each other at the question, then back at Maria.

“There aren’t any active towns that are nearby, so we’re going to have to move on my bike to get there.” Nicholas frowned. “Although, it’s not a three seater.”

“That won’t be a problem – hoverboard, remember?” Maria raised an eyebrow at Nicholas somewhat amusedly. “Let’s get moving, then – the longer we stand around and wait, the more likely it is that something’s going to happen and we’ll be too late to get involved by the time we get there.”

“Right!” Vash promptly ran out of the building, forcing Nicholas to scramble after him as Maria followed at a calmer pace.

**Space Break**

“How close in are we then?” A figure in red and orange armor looked over the shoulder of dark purple armor in order to get a better look at the dashboard controls.

The dark purple figure – with a black glass screen over his face – pushed the other back with a clawed hand so that she would get out of his private space. “Arrival: one hour. Destination: safe distance of orbit around planet.”

“Safe?” the other frowned. “Is this because of the communications being cut, Soundwave?”

“And Flare-Up’s message,” Soundwave replied. His voice was monotone and popped with more metallic static than the figure in red and orange. “Planet: Desert. Not advisable for some to be too close to surface.”

“You really think that just because of what I explained about Groudon, my powers are going to be boosted and something’s gonna happen to the ship?” The figure snorted and shook her head. “I’m not gonna be affected by that.”

“How sure are you of that?” Another figure in bright blue armor came up behind the two of them, eyes tinged with an electric sheen. “You haven’t felt the heat of this place before, and you didn’t feel Groudon’s presence in person. Flare-Up did. It’s better if you stay at a far distance before we figure out how strong the effect of the heat is on you, Wildfire.”

Wildfire huffed at the other’s comment. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll make sure to keep an eye on what I do and what I feel like when we get down onto the planet. Sound good, _Jolt?”_

Jolt nodded, smirking. “Yeah, sure. Just make sure you don’t let the power go to your head when we get down there.”

Wildfire grunted in response and rolled her eyes as Jolt snickered. “Yeah yeah, sure. What about those Plant things – have we heard anything from them?”

Soundwave shook his head slowly.

Wildfire frowned. “Then they probably haven’t figured things out like how Joshua and Maria did yet – that means they haven’t been able to spread that around.”

“Status: afraid. Inform: contact Vash. Beware: Knives.”

Wildfire and Jolt looked over at Soundwave with blank expressions that turned into frowns.

“Vash?” Wildfire repeated. “What kind of name is that?”

“Probably someone who’s trying to keep things safe down there,” Jolt commented. “Maria’s probably with him, if we’re going to take her message into account.”

“And Joshua’s with Knives if we’re going to take his,” Wildfire said grimly, frowning. “How much does this change us running around on this planet while we wait for Earth to get here?”

“It changes nothing,” Soundwave said flatly. “Goal: Contact Vash and Maria. Locate: Joshua. Halt: machinations of Knives.”

Wildfire and Jolt exchanged looks and nodded in agreement.

“I’ll go find the others in this big ship and let them know how things are going.” Wildfire started out of the room. “Keep an eye on things if we get anything else from the planet; I’d like to know if Maria is going to try and get something up to us, dead satellite or no.”

Soundwave nodded. “Unusual communications: Maria has. Contact: Inevitable.”

Wildfire nodded, smirking. “You got that right.”


	11. Fire!

Maria put her hands on her hips and looked at the two men -- considering her age, she could call them _boys_ – and their underpreparedness for the desert.

“You should have made sure to stock up on water,” Maria said with an annoyed tone.

“In my defense, I didn’t think the motorcycle was going to break down!” Nicholas snapped in reply. His voice was hoarse. “We would have had plenty of water otherwise! I’d like to ask why that hoverboard of yours can only carry you!”

“I can carry myself and one other person of my size, and since the both of you have extra stuff on top of that, there really isn’t all that much I can do,” Maria replied evenly. “I would have had to leave one of you far behind, and I doubt you want that.”

Nicholas huffed, but he didn’t say anything else that sounded like an argument against Maria’s point.

It was at this point that a jeep bounced past them across the dunes, spraying sand in every direction. And sitting in it were Meryl and Millie, Meryl drinking water in such a way that it _clearly_ said the two of them were showing off.

“What the—“ Nicholas stared after with an expression of shock. “Hey, why are they—“

Maria’s expression of annoyed disapproval got them to stop a couple seconds after they’d passed by, then turn around and drive straight back to them.

Meryl and Millie reached the trio just as Vash collapsed. Maria folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at Meryl as Millie scrambled out of the jeep.

“Vash!” Millie quickly picked up Vash and pulled him into the back of the jeep as Nicholas leaned against his cloth-covered cross. “Oh dear oh dear, you didn’t have enough supplies, did you?”

“They weren’t expecting Nicholas’ motorcycle to fall apart on them,” Maria replied blandly. She rolled her eyes as Nicholas shot her a look. “At this point, I’m lucky that I can adapt to the environment hear more easily than the rest of you.”

“What gives you that idea?” Nicholas responded.

“Experience.” Maria shrugged, then pulled her hoverboard out from somewhere under her jacket and stepped onto it. “The jeep isn’t going to be able to hold all of our weight. I’ll ride alongside until we get to town.”

“Sounds good!” Millie jumped back into the car, taking the driver’s seat. “Come on, Meryl! Let’s get to town!”

Meryl shook her head at Millie’s statement, turning her head slightly. “R-right! Let’s go!” She scrambled into the passenger’s side before Millie took off down the dunes towards the horizon. Maria flew after them, sending up a wave of sand behind her.

“How is it that you aren’t on the verge of collapse like those two are?” Meryl demanded. “You may be able to survive in weather like this – so you’ve said – but you still need water.”

“Not as much as others would,” Maria replied. “I am feeling somewhat parched, but I can last until we get to the town. At this point, we’re lucky that we haven’t run into anyone who thinks they can take us down yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“The thing I did with the two parts of Ninelives is only the tip of the iceberg for me. Out here, under these twin suns and with so much heat? If I stop holding back you would be needing more water than you already have.”

“Iceberg…?” Meryl frowned in confusion at the saying.

“A large chunk of ice that floats in cold waters and appears to be harmless on the surface but has more danger underneath than can be seen,” Maria explained. “My point is that there is more to me than can be explained or seen at a quick glance, like with Vash and Nicholas. Don’t think that I am young _or_ inexperienced. There’s more to me than meets the eye, and there’s more than what you might have heard about me when we were back in the colony ship.”

There was a serious gleam in Maria’s eyes that Meryl hesitated at, but she nodded after a moment. “I guess that means you could become a natural disaster yourself, too.”

“Could?” Maria snorted. “There are people who call me Fire _Storm._ To them, I already _am.”_

Meryl paled sharply at that. “What? You—“

“I only become the storm when I am needed to. Hopefully I won’t have to.”

Maria turned her attention to the horizon and moved back a little, closer to Nicholas and Vash as they sat in the back of the jeep. She felt Nicholas’ gaze on her and looked over at him, raising an eyebrow.

“You’d better fill us in on what exactly you are,” Nicholas said. “First your cousin’s stuck with you know who, next you did _something_ to paralyze a couple of his minions. Now you’re telling us you were a natural disaster _before_ Vash? Just what the hell are you?”

Maria tilted her head slightly at Nicholas’ question and raised an eyebrow at him. A little more sweat condensed on Nicholas’ forehead.

“…if we’re going to be working together, I should probably tell you,” Maria admitted. “But later, when Vash is a bit more conscious. He knows of who Joshua and I are and some of what we are capable of, but it would be better if he got the whole story too. There are some things about us that would probably be known, just in case something happens.”

“…what do you expect will happen?”

Maria’s expression became a little more grim and haunted than Nicholas was probably expecting to see on the face of a teenager. “Things that I hope won’t.”

**Time Break**

At the next town, the two boys had to be dropped off in the hospital for recovery from near- death from dehydration. Meryl didn’t mention that Maria had been with them, and Maria didn’t correct her. Millie looked a little nervous at the withholding of that truth, but she didn’t make her questions known until after they had stepped out of the hospital.

“Maria, how is it that you can survive without needing all that much water?” Millie asked as they walked towards the marketplace. “Most people need a lot of it out here in order to survive, right?”

“Most people, yes,” Maria agreed. “I’m an exception because of who I am.”

“What do you mean?” Meryl jumped on immediately. “You’ve said that before – but what does it _mean?”_

Maria shrugged one shoulder. “To put it simply, I’m less human than you two.”

The statement caused the three of them to pause in the middle of the marketplace.

“Less human?” Meryl repeated. “What exactly does _that_ mean?”

“It means what it means.” Maria shrugged. “I’ve got extra abilities that most humans don’t, and it’s progressed to the point that I’m something else and far less human than I was when I was sixteen years old.” Maria’s expression was serious.

Meryl and Millie exchanged looks.

“How could someone…become _less_ human?” Meryl asked. “I-is that even possible?”

Maria looked around for a moment, then motioned for the two women to follow her into a nearby alley. After making sure that there wasn’t anyone listening in, she said, “Joshua and I are different from everyone else who came to this planet for a few reasons. The first is that we are older than everyone else who stepped onto that ship.”

“How—“

“It’s because around the time we turned sixteen, we both faced different situations that led to us becoming not human. We only look human because we still hang onto where we came from.”

Meryl blinked in surprise at that.

“So…if you’re not human _anymore,_ then what are you?” Millie asked carefully. “Are you – are you Plants?”

“We’re something else,” Maria replied. “I can guess why people would _think_ we are Plants, but no – my brother and I were the first to come into contact with them, not come _from_ them.”

“Come from…?”

Maria shook her head. “Besides my point. The point I am making is that we are older than everyone on this planet. Doesn’t mean that I know better than you do, considering that I haven’t spent that much time on the planet with the people living on it, but it does mean that I’ve seen things that you couldn’t imagine, and done things that are equally impossible. So don’t take my appearance at face value.”

Meryl stared at Maria for a moment, then shook her head and became a little more annoyed. “That still doesn’t explain where that staff came from, or why you can withstand this world better than the rest of us. Does it have something to do with what you are or—“

“Yes and no. Part of it is because of skills that I gained before I became what I am now, and I’d like to keep those skills under wraps for the moment. There are some things that I’m capable of that would make people think that what Vash is capable of is a cakewalk.” Maria’s expression hardened. “Because if I let myself go, this entire world could be burned up in an instant; I’m not sure yet.”

“Not sure?! What do you—“

There came the sound of glass smashing, cutting Meryl off and causing Maria to turn sharply. The screams that went off in the main street sent Maria running into the open. It took a second for Meryl and Millie to follow after her.

“Li-Lin!” someone screamed, looking up at the second floor of a nearby building with an expression of alarm.

Maria noticed the body that was bleeding out on the ground first, unmoving. She couldn’t see him breathing, but her gaze moved up sharply to the broken window at the crazed, slightly-higher-than-average male voice that came from it.

“Your name is Li-Lin-chan-pisu? Hm! That’s a very nice name-pisu. Very, very _cute_ -pisu.”

Maria felt a chill run down her spine as her eyes narrowed. She pulled her hoverboard out from under her jacket, startling others standing near her as she jumped on it while the voice continued.

“I’ve decided-pisu!” A large, muscular man with a strange, beak-like mouth and a metal plate on his head crawled out the window, a girl held under one arm. “Li-Lin-chan will be bride 13 of Pokum’s-pisu! Pokum has grown lonesome, all the other ones are broken. Now…you join them!”

The man – Pokum – pulled out a gun. At the same time, Maria held her right hand out to her side.

“Fly into heaven and join Pokum’s other twelve!”

Before the gun could be put up to the girl’s chin, Maria swung her staff. “Fire Sphere!”

A red-orange fireball came flying off the end of Maria’s carved staff and collided into the monster’s hand, sending up a burst of smoke and melting the metal hand holding the weapon into a brick of hot metal.

Maria blinked in surprise as Pokum turned his head to look in her direction—only for an X-shaped piece of metal to ram into his face.

“Guh!” Pokum let the girl go and fell down into the ground face-first; Maria let go of her staff and swung around and caught the woman before she hit the ground.

Maria landed and let the girl go; she stumbled, looking at Maria with wide eyes before turning and running off, an uneasy, terrified expression on her face.

“It may be small, but its power is sufficient.”

Maria turned at the sound of Meryl’s voice and saw her holding a small pistol to Pokum’s head. She eyed her for a moment as men with weapons started running up the street towards them, and she relaxed her shoulders and stepped off her hoverboard, which folded up and disappeared under her jacket.

One of the men – wearing a badge – walked over to Maria, gun held loosely in one hand. “Are you the one who fused his weapon to his hand?”

Maria eyed him for a moment, then glanced over at Pokum as a couple men pulled him to his feet. A third was looking over the large metal hand that had been holding the gun – it looked like a partially-melted brick of metal now.

“You’ve made the weapon _and_ his hand completely useless,” the man said. “What kind of weapon do you have that made that possible? And why would a _child_ be—“

Maria looked up at him. “Don’t take what I appear to be as what I am.” She kept the serious expression for a moment, then grinned, her expression softening. “But yeah, that was me. A bit stronger than I was expecting it to be – and that was supposed to be my weakest attack!” She laughed a little, but then grew a little more serious. “I won’t be using that ability unless I absolutely have to, sir. You won’t be expecting trouble from me in that regard.”

The man looked thrown off enough by Maria’s sudden shifts in personality that he nodded dumbly, then turned and went to help the other men drag the muscular monster off. Meryl and Millie walked over to join Maria, and the three of them watched the men pull Pokum into an armored truck.

A couple men stayed behind to gather statements from Maria, Meryl, and Millie, as well as the poor young woman who had nearly been grabbed and killed by the crazed man who had just been arrested. Maria didn’t demonstrate her powers when pressed by the people watching, but they remembered the melted mess the gun had become and left her well enough alone, which Maria was grateful for.

“Let’s go back to the hotel,” Meryl said a little quickly. “I need more answers about what the hell you just did.”

Maria raised an eyebrow at that, then nodded. “All right. But I’m leaving most of this for when Nicholas and Vash are with us again. There is more to me than can be explained in a single night.”

The trio made their way to the hotel and made their way up to the room that Meryl and Millie had claimed for the night. With two beds, Meryl and Millie were able to sit on one and Maria on the other.

The bed groaned under Maria’s weight as she sat down and rested her hands on her knees. She looked at the two women expectantly.

“So, first electricity, and now fire,” Meryl said. “You _melted that gun._ How?!”

“Fire is the element I’ve spent most of my time with,” Maria replied. “I’ve gotten so good at it that it’s what’s affected me most – I can even summon it without needing my staff first. Lightning and ice, on the other hand—“

_“Ice?!”_

“—I need the staff for, and considering how warm this place is I’m probably not going to be able to use ice.” Maria made a face. “It’ll probably end up turning into steam instead, so I won’t be making use of that for a long time. And I’ll actually need to hold back on my attacks – more than I have in the past, which isn’t something that I’m quite used to yet. It will take me some time to get used to that, so anything that I do with that is going to be a last resort.”

“That’s why you said you were going to be able to burn this entire world up if you let yourself loose,” Millie realized. “It’s because of this fire?”

Maria nodded. “Exactly. That Fire Sphere – that was originally the weakest attack I had. I was aiming to burn his hand and force him to let go of the gun, not melt it into one mass.”

Meryl and Millie exchanged wide-eyed looks.

“So don’t expect me to show off. I may be a natural disaster in humanoid form, but I don’t intend to be _known_ as a natural disaster in human form.” Maria folded her arms across her chest. “My powers are used in defense of life, no more, no less.”

The two women stared at Maria.

“And…how long have you been doing this for?” Millie asked. “Because you – you sound like a mercenary.”

Maria tilted her head slightly at the question while Meryl looked at her partner with an aghast expression.

“Millie, you don’t—“

“Several centuries, at least.”

Meryl looked back at Maria sharply as the woman’s brow furrowed.

“I’d have to find someone who could give me an exact year according to the Earth calendar, since mine’s out of whack, _but_ I know I’ve been running around and doing this for several lifetimes from a human perspective.” Maria shrugged one shoulder. “I was eighteen when Joshua made first contact with the Plants, but they didn’t start becoming as well-known as they are now until several, _several_ decades later. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Meryl and Millie exchanged looks again.

“We…we have a lot to think about,” Meryl said carefully.

Maria nodded. “Take your time. I’ll be here.”

With that, she lay back on the bed, put her hands behind her head, and closed her eyes.


	12. Zazie

**Chapter 12 -- Zazie**

Maria’s gently shaken for a second, then more forcefully with desperate hisses. “Maria-san! Wake up!”

Maria cracked one eye open, then the other when she saw the concerned, worried expression of Millie. “What? What is it?”

“I-it’s Meryl-san.”

Maria sat upright quickly at that. “What’s happened?” The sleepy, not-quite-awake expression had quickly given way to the more serious one that had been on her face before.

“W-well, Meryl-san and I went to the hospital to see if Vash-san and Pastor-san were still there and – and they’d already checked themselves out.” Millie looked over at the window worriedly for a second, then looked back at Maria. She seemed relieved that Maria was still there. “And I heard something and looked away from Meryl-san, and when I looked back, she was just – she was gone.”

Maria frowned, noticing Millie’s worried and tired expression. “There’s no way she would disappear without telling you anything first, is there?”

Millie shook her head. She noticed that her own cheeks were wet and wiped the tears away as best she could with a sleeve. “I-I’ve been looking for her all night. No one in town kn-knows where she is. A-and she didn’t come back while you were asleep, either.”

Maria looked around Millie at the other bed, which was sitting untouched. “Hm. I’ll go have a look around town – _you_ get some sleep. I promise I won’t disappear on you that easily.”

Millie shook her head. “No, I’m not leaving you. I don’t want you to disappear from my sight again for a minute. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? I’d rather you—“

“No, we _have_ to find Meryl. Can you help?”

Maria blinked at the sound of the conviction in Millie’s voice, then nodded. “Okay. Let’s head out and have a look around. I doubt that she would have left town, all things considered. We’ll just have to see if anyone in town’s spotted her, Vash, or Nicholas. Maybe all three of them are together somewhere. Sound good?”

Millie nodded and sniffled a little.

“Okay. Let’s start looking.”

**Time Break**

Maria and Millie managed to find Vash and Nicholas a couple hours later, eating in a soup kitchen and looking like they had been working in the kitchen for a little while themselves.

As soon as the two of them looked up, Millie broke down in tears.

“Whoa-whoa!” Nicholas held up a hand as Mille broke down. He scrambled to his feet and moved over to the two of them as Vash watched with a startled, worried expression. “What happened? Where’s the short girl?”

Millie barely managed to hold back a wail.

“She’s disappeared and Millie can’t find her anywhere,” Maria explained. “It was some time after the two of you got out of the hospital – they went to check on you, Millie turned when she heard a noise, and Meryl was gone by the time she looked back.”

“I-I can’t find her anywhere,” Millie said. She sniffed unhappily. “I-I-I thought she m-might be with you!”

Nicholas frowned at that as Vash came over. A couple other people looked in their direction, but didn’t give any sign that they were going to get themselves involved. “She’s just up and vanished? That’s not her style. Are you sure you’ve looked everywhere?”

“You two should probably go back to the hotel and –“ Vash glanced at Maria. “—well, at least Millie should sleep. We’ll have a look around and see if we can find Meryl. You two stick together. If anything happens, find a way to signal us.”

Maria nodded in response. “All right. We’ll leave things up to you.”

Millie grabbed Vash in a tight hug then looked at him with a glare through her tears. “Make sure she’s safe!”

Vash blinked a couple times in surprise, then nodded as a determined expression crossed his own face. “We will. And make sure you take care of yourself, all right? You look exhausted.”

Millie nodded, the glare fading into a concerned, tired look again. She let Maria lead her out of the soup kitchen and back to the hotel room.

As they slipped out, Maria looked back at the two men and caught sight of the grim expression that passed between the two of them.

_Those two had better get to the bottom of this, or else I’m going to beat them to it if they don’t – and maybe beat them too if I’m feeling grumpy._

The two of them had nearly gotten back to the hotel when Millie started to fall over, yawning tiredly and nearly bowling Maria over out of surprise.

“Whumpf!” Maria grunted as she adjusted how she was standing when Millie leaned against her shoulder and put most of her weight on her. “I figured you were heavy but not this much…! We’ve still got a couple floors to go – come on!”

Millie mumbled something as Maria pulled her upstairs. A couple older men who were sitting at the hotel’s bar watched with wide eyes as this young woman who was barely on the cusp of adulthood and far skinnier and _shorter_ than her companion managed to drag Millie upstairs without looking too terribly over-exerted.

The two men exchanged looks as Maria and Millie disappeared from sight, then looked at their drinks in suspicious bewilderment.

After getting Millie to bed, Maria moved to stand at the window of the hotel room and lean against the windowsill. Looking down into the street three floors down, she frowned in thought.

“Meryl wouldn’t disappear without telling Millie, I know that much,” Maria muttered. “Did it have something to do with the guy we caught yesterday…? No, he looked too crazy to have any accomplices. But who else would want to take off with someone, and be able to do it without Millie noticing…?”

Something buzzed in her ear, and Maria reacted instinctively by slamming her open hand into the side of her face. When she pulled her hand away, she blinked in surprise at the strange, alien bug that she had just squashed.

“Looks like some kind of…alien mosquito?” Maria frowned. “But those are water based – unless….”

She looked out over the city again. There were parts to this puzzle that she was only getting more pieces for. How many more would she get before _this_ one was solved…?

**Space Break**

Zazie the Beast blinked. “Hm. Interesting.”

Meryl glared at them from her cage, expression guarded but also showing her curiosity at the same time. She raised an eyebrow.

The man with what looked like a saxophone looked over at the tan, slit-eyed boy with a curious expression. “What?”

“She’s not human, and faster than I expected her to be.”

“Who, the taller woman?”

Meryl shifted slightly, but said nothing. Especially when the boy-who-wasn’t-a-boy looked in her direction.

“No. The other one with them.” Zazie frowned slightly. “Someone…else.”

“Well, that’s not very descriptive.”

“My drone didn’t get a good feel for her before it was destroyed. I’ll need a different way to gain information.” Zazie narrowed their eyes. “She may be coming tonight. Watch for a girl with an orange jacket; I want her alive for questioning.”

There came a crazed cackle from the darkness as Meryl’s eyes widened.

What did they want with Maria?

**Space Break**

Vash and Nicholas arrived at Millie’s and Maria’s hotel room several hours later, when the suns had set and the moons had risen. Meryl wasn’t with them.

“No sign?” Maria watched them as they moved into the half of the hotel room with a table and the open window Maria had been watching from before.

Nicholas shook his head as Vash went straight to the window. “She hasn’t come back yet?”

Millie shifted under the covers, but she didn’t move to get up. If either Maria or Nicholas noticed the movement, they gave no sign.

Maria shook her head. “It’s been too quiet.”

“I agree.” Nicholas pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, spun it between his fingers. “There’s a few things that don’t make any sense about all of this, and something tells me we’re gonna have to wait before we get the answers.”

“Not a bad idea, but it is a worrisome one.” Maria’s eyes narrowed. “Especially on a world like this. Are all outlaws crazy enough to go ahead and kill and rape and steal in open daylight, minds addled by whatever the suns have done to them?”

“Kid, that guy you and the girls took out yesterday was only the edge of the cliff they all fall into.” Nicholas held the cigarette to his lips, lit it, and took a drag. “That guy was crazy, sure, but I’ve met crazier.”

“And taken down crazier?”

Nicholas looked at Maria with a guarded look.

“Pastors who carry around a weapon like that –“ Maria nodded to the bound-up cross leaning against the wall “—are normally pastors who have seen enough to be considered lawmen. Or something similar. Considering that the fifth commandment says _you shall not kill_ I consider it surprising that you need a weapon that big.”

Vash snorted from the window. Nicholas shot him a glare.

“Now I have to deal with _two_ of you,” Nicholas muttered. “Great. As if my life wasn’t troublesome enough.” He took another drag from the cigarette. “In case you haven’t noticed, No Man’s Land isn’t Earth. The way we handle things here is different from the way you’re probably used to handling things.”

“You’d be surprised,” Maria muttered, causing Nicholas to raise an eyebrow. “You have an idea as to where Meryl is?”

The ground rumbled suddenly, and a shadow fell across the open window, obscuring the moonlight. “Thanks for waiting!”

Maria and Nicholas turned sharply at the youthful voice and caught sight of a figure who _looked_ like a boy with dark brown skin and pale eyes with slit pupils. He was standing on something large and bestial that was sitting out in the street, and tall enough that the figure was able to stand on the creature’s head and meet their gazes.

“I am Number Twelve of the Gung-Ho Guns,” the figure announced. “Zazie the Beast!”

Zazie? Maria stored the name away at the back of her mind as she and Nicholas quickly approached the window. Nicholas moved away a little from Maria as the air close to her body started to shimmer with unexpected heat.

She’d heard of the Gung-Ho Guns in passing, when she’d gotten the others’ stories. These were Knives’ henchmen, and they weren’t going to be able to get away easily.

There’s no talking your way out of this one,” Zazie continued. “You have reason to do battle with me. We have the small, short-haired woman—“

Vash leapt out the window with a yell, flinging himself across the open space between the hotel and the giant monster in the street.

“Spikey!” Nicholas barked as Millie threw herself out of bed.

Vash managed to grab onto the armor that was covering the monster’s head – which, Maria saw now, appeared to be _blind_ and worm-like. It must have been a native to the world – a creature disturbed by the arrival of humans, then tamed by one.

“Is Zazie even human, though…?” Maria murmured to herself, frowning.

“You two are really intriguing!” Zazie exclaimed. “Are you honestly brothers?”

That confirmed who Zazie was working with.

“You asshole!” Nicholas pulled out a pistol and shot at the large beast. The blasts from the weapon didn’t heat the worm, but they did cause it to react to the sound by bucking its head to move away from the fire.

“What are you doing, you lousy shot clergyman?!” Vash demanded.

“Say what?!” Nicholas roared back as Maria jumped onto the windowsill herself. “Who told you to jump over there, ya idiot?!”

Vash had been working on climbing up to reach Zazie, but before he could get to the top of the worm’s head Zazie kicked him off with an innocent-sounding “oops!”

The kick sent Vash flying towards the window as Maria slipped off the sill as Nicholas shouted “Idiot!” seconds before Vash collided with the pastor.

Maria ignored them as the hoverboard appeared under her feet before she was halfway to the ground, and she zipped up in front of the worm, radiating enough heat to create a shimmering effect in the air around her.

The worm bowed its head, pulling back from Maria. Zazie tilted his head and looked at Maria with a guarded expression.

“What are you?” Zazie asked.

Maria’s appearance shimmered, and her shirt and jacket almost turned blue for a second before switching back to red and orange. “The brother has my cousin. Is that enough of an answer?” She drew back a hand, summoning a fireball that was as big as her head. “Where is Meryl?"

Zazie’s little grin wavered, then disappeared as his eyes widened. “You…how?! How can you still function without--”

“If you see him again, tell him Belle saved my life,” Maria replied cryptically. The fireball sizzled in her hand, against the cold night air. “Now, where is Meryl? I’ll find Joshua when I know she’s safe.”

Zazie looked surprised for a moment, then shook his head and grinned, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You will have to reach the center of the Dragon’s Nest. I will be in the heart, at the Juukei building!”

He crouched down against the top of the worm, and it quickly burrowed down into the ground, leaving upturned earth in its wake.


	13. Midvalley

**Chapter 13 -- Midvalley**

Maria let the fireball dissipate into the air as the amount of heat radiating from her form lessened. She noticed that there were people staring out from the windows nearby – it looked like they had been watching the display with shocked expressions. Maria ignored them.

“The Dragon’s Nest Fortress? Is he serious?” Millie sounded alarmed.

“You know the place?” Maria looked over.

Millie nodded. “I-I’ve _heard_ about it, but I’ve never set foot in it.”

“Well, it’s as good of a lead as any. Meet me at the entrance – we’ll head in there on foot.”

Maria lowered herself to the ground and stepped off her hoverboard near where the worm had dug up the road. She held her hoverboard under one arm and waited for the other three to scramble down the stairs of the building and join her outside with a grim expression.

“This day just keeps getting better and better,” Maria muttered as people looked down at her with surprised, but then suspicious expressions. “First Meryl disappears, now there’s someone connected with the native creatures…is he using them? Those eyes definitely looked unusual….”

It was the eyes that told Maria that Zazie – whoever he was – probably wasn’t as human as he appeared to be. There was something about the kid that felt more than a little bit off.

Vash, Nicholas, and Millie didn’t take long in getting down to the ground, and the three of them promptly set off in the direction of the building that Zazie had mentioned.

Nicholas looked over at Maria and frowned. “Hey…doesn’t that thing normally disappear when you’re not using it? Why’s it sticking around now?”

“Because I want it to.” Maria shrugged as Nicholas started at her, doubtful. “It’s my tech, it does as I want it to. Is there a problem in that?”

Nicholas muttered something under his breath and turned his attention to the buildings around them, frowning. “What the…there’s hundreds of buildings clumped together. What a mess of a lace – it’s like someone dumped all the leftovers in the middle of a dirt lot.”

Vash made a low hum of a noise.

“Spikey?”

“I don’t like it,” Vash announced. “There are too many people here. The lower and upper class – they’re all packed tightly together.”

“Like sardines,” Maria confirmed. Millie gave her a curious, confused look, but neither of the men said anything to her comment.

“…yeah,” Nicholas said after a moment. “They’re already all huddled in a pile. Looks like that bastard’s friends’ve made preparations. Seems they’ve picked this place to kill us off.” He swung his bound-up cross around in front of him in one easy motion. “But rest easy. While we’re in charge, that bastard’s killing no one. If anyone becomes an obstacle, we’ll send them scattering away from here.”

Maria nodded in agreement to that, but she said nothing.

“At least, that’ll be my purpose in all of this. Giant girl.”

“Huh?” Millie looked over.

“You can stay and watch from this point on. This _isn’t_ your world. Leave it to us to bring the small woman back here.” Nicholas looked at Maria. “And I’m gonna say the same to you, since you seem to have a stake in all of this too.”

Maria folded her arms across her chest, dropping her hoverboard. It moved behind her and folded up before disappearing somewhere out of sight behind her. “I don’t think so.”

“S-same here,” Millie added quickly.

Nicholas looked irritated. “Now look—“

“Maybe it’s pointless to argue, but this is my pursuit too, and I’m not trading places,” Millie said with unusual seriousness.

“I can take care of myself and I don’t intend to let you two do this alone,” Maria added. “I may have a stake in this, but that simply means those monsters will be coming after _me_ too, especially after the reveal I just did. I haven’t revealed all of my tricks yet.”

“I can’t bear not to be able to do anything for Meryl this time either,” Millie added. “I’ve always been more of a burden, and I’m not going to just let this happen without me being able to help.”

“Don’t be foolish,” Nicholas scoffed. “You’re just talkin’ about feelin’. I said we’re _not_ taking you.”

Maria inclined her head slightly.

Millie pulled out a large gun with a rotating barrel and pointed it at the two of them. “I’m going too. I can shoot 4.1 kilo fangs and turn them into 98 kilos very quickly with this.”

Maria looked at Millie with raised eyebrows and a slightly impressed expression.

“OK. We’ll bring the both of you along.”

Nicholas turned sharply to look at Vash. “Spikey!”

“We don’t know where Meryl’s been taken,” Vash pointed out. “Every place is as dangerous as the next. And Maria has abilities they won’t be expecting. At least, not for the moment. And she can help keep people from _dying,_ she’s used to that.”

Maria gave Nicholas a smug sort of expression, causing him to glare at her in return.

“Is that so? Well, I haven’t _seen_ these abilities yet, so I doubt that—“

A loud noise suddenly resounded from somewhere above them, causing the four of them to look up sharply.

“Who’s there?!” Nicholas demanded. “Zazie?! Midvalley?! Hoppered?!”

Maria looked at him sharply. The first name she recognized, but not the second two. Where had he—

 _“To kill him I am only a bullet!”_ a crazed-sounding voice called from somewhere above them.

A moment later, the building next to them started coming apart as something large slammed into it, spinning wildly as it came crashing down towards them.

“Run!” Vash yelled as the debris came crashing down.

Maria had little time to react. She threw her arms up around her face defensively as she leapt back, away from the building as it landslided down towards them and took out the part of the street they had been standing on mere moments before.

She stumbled back as the water tower that had been on top of the building slammed down over the street, spilling water out onto the road. The shockwave of energy as a result of the crash caused Maria to lean back on one foot in order to keep her balance.

When the dust cleared, she and Nicholas were on one side of the rubble.

“Shit!” Nicholas cursed. “Spikey! Girl!”

Something moved above them, and Maria and Nicholas looked up.

A man in a white suit was standing on a metal, grate-like walkway above their heads. He tilted his head back, a large musical instrument reminiscent of a saxophone at his lips.

Maria threw her hands over her ears as her appearance flickered, and the man threw out an almost unheard note.

Nicholas reacted instantly, thrown back against the ground as the sound wave hit him hard.

Maria was also thrown back a short distance and slammed into the rubble from the other’s attack, but her hands did not leave her ears until she had collided with the wall.

**Maria’s POV**

There’s always a strange sensation that comes from making myself deaf.

I can feel I’m hitting into things and I can see and smell everything else – the blood in Nicholas’ mouth and probably his ears, the metal of his cross-like gun, the water that was slowly seeping into the dirt. The pressure in the air as _something_ pushed me into the rubble.

It’s a shame I hadn’t heard the note that he’d played, but then again, he was _probably_ trying to use it to kill us and send blood seeping out of our ears – I wasn’t about to let that happen to mine, but I didn’t _have_ blood – not in the usual way – and my brain wasn’t one that normal humans had.

I could see Nicholas’ fingers twitching and he was still breathing, but I still got up and moved over to him anyway.

I couldn’t hear the sound the water made when it circled around my boots, but I could feel the mud squelching against them.

I got to Nicholas and looked him over for a second, then nodded to myself. He was going to be fine for the moment. We had other problems to worry about.

I looked up at the man with the bass saxophone again. He looked surprised.

“Sorry,” I called up – again, only knowing I was speaking but not hearing my own voice. “I’m making myself deaf for a bit to avoid getting at least some internal injuries. You look like you know your way around that sax, though. Are you one of these Gung-Ho Morons?”

He raised an eyebrow, then asked something.

“Okay, hang on. Clearly, you don’t know what sign language is, otherwise you’d be using that. I’m not good with lip-reading at this distance.” I tapped against one of my ears, getting a dull _pop_ as the sound rushed in. “What was that you were saying?”

"I was _wondering_ how a person could make themselves deaf and avoid the pressure wave,” the man said. He sounded like he smoked at least a little, but had a slight singing voice, too.

I shrugged. “Seemed logical at the time to make sure that I didn’t lose my hearing. The pressure wave was something else, though – you must have quite the set of lungs.”

I could hear muffled shouting on the other side. Behind me, something shifted on the ground and in the water – Nicholas, probably starting to do something.

“Besides, I don’t necessarily have a _brain_ to rattle. Not in the usual sense.”

The sound of a gun going off behind me made me stiffen up in surprise, but I only felt the blast as the bullet was sent flying upwards. I glanced behind me and up with an expression of surprise. Was that meant to be a signal of some kind?

Gunshots went off on the other side of the pile of rubble as the blast Nicholas sent up exploded in the sky above the city, nearly taking out the man with the saxophone. He ducked down against the grate, then climbed up again after the blast had passed.

“That armor,” the man with the saxophone called down. He didn’t sound shaken, but his body was tense. “You’re the other one, aren’t you?”

I didn’t look down at myself to know what he was talking about. “So you’ve seen him?”

“In passing. I know enough that you’re not someone to mess with as I am now.” He looked down at his instrument. “I’ll leave you to take care of him, although I doubt you’re going to be able to do anything for him now. I could finish you off with an A, but—“ He shrugged, but the movement was stiff. “Maybe we’ll see each other again.”

“If you see my cousin first, tell him that things are going to heat up around here very soon. He’ll know what I mean.”

The man raised an eyebrow, then turned and walked out of sight. I think he broke into a run as soon as he was sure that I couldn’t see him anymore.

I quickly turned my attention to Nicholas then – he’d fallen limp after shooting that blast at the man with the saxophone. Better make sure he’s more stable than a glance at him from me showed.

**Change in POV**

Midvalley hadn’t expected that the man with the cross weapon was another of their order. Nor was he expecting that the girl who had been with him had not only managed to remain conscious from the blast, but also managed to remain _standing._

And that armor…

Midvalley quickened his pace to get back to where Zazie was hiding with the girl he was holding hostage. Considering that the two of _them_ were brothers, it only made sense that _he_ would find the other one. But how was _that_ one still active and moving around?

Maybe one of them would get the story later. He had other things to worry about right at that moment.


	14. Dragon's Nest

“Wolfwood! Maria!”

Maria looked up as Millie came scrambling down the pile of rubble, pushing aside some of the people who had gathered around the dent in the ground where the saxophonist had blasted his horn. The woman looked concerned and worried, but unhurt – unlike the man with a cross for a weapon.

Maria adjusted her hold on Nicholas, keeping his head and chest elevated and propped against her shoulder. “As far as I can tell, he’s stable, but considering that a pressure wave of sound hit the both of us, his brain has probably been rattled a bit. I’d recommend getting him to a hospital as soon as possible.”

One hand drummed her fingers lightly against Nicholas’ shoulder. She’d been listening to the muted fight on the other side of the wall of rubble – something about July and making Vash remember – but despite the fact that she wanted to get involved, she knew keeping an eye on Nicholas was more important at the moment.

Millie stared, looking Maria over. “Maria, you look—“

“Different?” Maria shrugged her free shoulder, not glancing down at the strange armor she wore while Millie’s eyes trailed over her appearance.

It looked like Maria was wearing a gray jumpsuit, with red plates of armor covering her chest, abdomen, and feet, with matching metal boots that went up to her knees. Her shoulders had square-shaped orange pads, and her forearms were covered in cylindrical pieces of orange armor. The white gloves and gold rings on her wrists and elbows also looked strange and out of place, especially when compared to the rest of Maria’s appearance.

“What I look like probably shouldn’t be what you’re concerned about.”

Maria’s serious tone caused Millie’s eyes to move up to her face. At the same time, Nicholas stirred slightly as he took in a breath, then suddenly lunged forward with a roar. He looked around wildly for a moment before he groaned and put his head in his hands.

“Shit!” Nicholas cursed. “Bested by that showy….” The rest of his words were lost as he mumbled under his breath.

“A-are you okay?” Millie asked worriedly as Maria rose from her kneeling position. The two of them moved over and helped Nicholas to his feet.

“That was quite a hit you took,” Maria added. “I’m surprised that you’re conscious.”

“Could – oof – say the same to you.” Nicholas grunted as he put weight on his own feet. “What about…Spikey?”

There came the faint sound of a cry, accompanied by gunshots. Maria turned her head and followed the sound with a grim expression.

“Can he pull it off?” Nicholas grunted again. “Let’s go.”

Millie made a worried noise. “Wolfwood, I—“

“You were scared,” Nicholas said. “That’s why I told you to stay behind. I’m almost concerned about the _real_ villain. He got away…he won…but that’s okay. His defeat will come. We’ll get the short woman….”

Maria frowned. The saxophonist had been the real villain in this instance? Then what – or who – was it that Vash was busy with?

“At any rate, now I need to move on alone,” Nicholas added. “You two shouldn’t get any more involved than—“

Maria scoffed loudly at that. “Everyone who’s tried to tell _me_ that has failed spectacularly. I’m not going to—“

A spotlight suddenly fell over the three of them, causing Maria and Millie to turn to see where the source of the light was coming from.

“Oi! Are you guys okay?!” someone from the crowd above called down. “Hurry up and get the hell out of here!”

“So many got mixed up in this,” Nicholas muttered. “It’s too much hardship.” He started moving forward, then stumbled on uneven legs and collapsed to his knees, reaching out just short of where his weapon was. “Shit! This town was _doomed_ to be rolled over by that punisher. I’ll have to search in the darkness.”

“The kidnapper,” Millie muttered.

Maria looked between the both of them, raising an eyebrow. She settled on Nicholas. “Have you gone _blind?_ There’s a spotlight on us from a civilian right now.”

Nicholas turned his head at that, and Maria noticed that his eyes seemed to be glazed over. He gained an annoyed expression as he looked generally in Maria’s and Millie’s direction.

“Girl, how did you find the two of us?” Nicholas asked.

Millie’s expression shifted slightly at the question. Maria frowned.

“What kind of a question is that?” Maria asked.

Nicholas didn’t give her and answer. He turned and started walking away, cross slung over one shoulder.

“W-wolfwood?!” Millie asked. “Where are you going?”

“Leavin’ that girl behind,” Nicholas replied.

“What?!” Millie started running after him.

Maria started to move as well, but not but a moment later Nicholas swung around with an arm and caught Millie off-guard and made her lose her breath in the same motion before she fell limp.

Cries of disapproval started coming down from the people standing around on the rubble above them.

Maria ignored them. “You did that because you don’t want her to fall into any danger. After what that man with the saxophone did, I can guess why. Are you going to try to tell me to stay out of this as well?”

Nicholas turned his attention from the disapproving figures above and looked in Maria’s direction. “If you’re _his_ database’s cousin, then something tells me that trying that isn’t gonna get me anywhere. Help me find a place to lay her down and leave her and we’ll make our way to the center of this place.”

Maria nodded in agreement, then moved over and helped Nicholas pull Millie off to one side as the figures on the rubble continued to yell down at them. She looked up at them when they had pulled Millie out of the water. “Excuse me, but I think it would be better if you _got out of town now_ instead of sticking around like a bunch of sheep that have been hemmed in! Get outta here before you find yourselves in worse shape than you are!”

“Sheep?” Nicholas muttered in confusion.

That similar confusion was seen on the others’ expressions, but Maria’s yelling did get them moving away from the rubble and the crater before they disappeared from sight.

“All right. We’re gonna follow Midvalley up.” Nicholas clapped a hand on Maria’s shoulder and frowned before tightening his fingers. “What the…”

“If you know what my cousin's being used for, then you’ve probably seen him,” Maria said. “Which, if he’s being used as a database, then that means that you must have an interesting story to tell, Nicholas Wolfwood. I’ll ask you about it later; let’s go find that musician.”

The stiffness in Nhicholas’ posture at Maria’s words relaxed when she finished – but only slightly. “…yeah. Let’s find that Hornfreak.”

Maria gave a snort in reply, then started climbing up to the place where she had last caught sight of the musician. Nicholas climbed up after her, Maria assisting him in finding handholds and firmer places to set his feet. “Hornfreak? Really?”

“Well, what would you call a guy who can shoot soundwaves from his horn that could kill a person?” Nicholas shot back. He reached the top of the rubble pile and followed Maria away from that mess.

“He didn’t kill you,” Maria pointed out.

“Or you,” Nicholas responded. “What, you have some defense so that your brain doesn’t explode in a stroke or something?”

“I don’t have one.”

Nicholas stumbled behind Maria. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Oh, right – specifics.” Maria scratched her chin in thought. “Sorry; it’s been a while since I talked about this kind of thing. I told Millie and Meryl some part of this already, but…if we’re going to be working together, you should know, too.”

“Know what?”

“I’m not made of flesh and blood. I’m _mechanical._ Anything that you have problems with, I don’t – not in the way that you’re used to.”

Nicholas stared, an incredulous look on his face. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“Makes sense when you said my cousin was being used as Knives’ database, though,” Maria pointed out. “ _Doesn’t_ it, Gung-Ho Moron?”

Nicholas visibly winced. “Don’t call me that.” He started to move past her.

Maria fell into step next to him. “So, you are one of them. But what, you don’t want to be?”

“’m Chapel,” Nicholas muttered. “An’ I’m only doing this because I have to.”

Maria nodded a little. “Ironic, that a killer is called the name of a place that is holy and is known as being a sanctuary.”

“Not you too – I get enough of that religious crap from Vash.”

“Hey, I was _raised_ with that religious background, I can poke at you as much as I like, false preacher.”

“How can someone who is _mechanical_ be raised _religious?”_

“I didn’t start out life like this.”

Nicholas fell silent at that. Maria’s tone betrayed her a little – but not much. There was a tremor in her voice, but that was all.

“Let’s find Meryl, meet up together, and _then_ I can tell you my life story, all right?” Maria said, an irritated tone entering her voice instead. “I don’t intend to give this more than once, and it can be a _long_ story to tell if you really want every single detail of my life that I’ve lived through.” She started to quicken her pace.

Nicholas grabbed her shoulder and pulled enough to make her slow to a stop.

“If you really are like that, then they’re going to notice. They’re going to take you to Knives and do to you what they did to that other kid that I heard about,” Nicholas said seriously. “Only one man has been in _his_ presence in his inner sanctum besides that kid, and that’s Legato Bluesummers. Everybody reports back to him at some point, and if he finds out you’re around—“

“Let him come,” Maria replied, raising her chin. “I’ve faced more than you have in your lifetime, Nicholas. Let’s see how this fight fares before we go any further with talking about what it is that I will have to face to get Joshua back.”

Nicholas hesitated at that, but something in Maria’s tone made him nod and pull his hand away from her shoulder.

Maria nodded. “All right. Let’s go find that Midvalley.”

**Time Break**

It didn’t take the two of them long to reach the bridge that Midvalley had positioned himself on with his saxophone, but the sun _was_ rising by then.

“Get that A key fixed?” Maria asked casually as they approached. “Unless there’s an instrument repair shop nearby, and considering the amount of time, I’d guess not.” She smirked, but the look was almost sheepish and conniving at the same time. “I guess that means you won’t be knocking us off so easily.”

Midvalley didn’t move. His instrument was already in his mouth, and it looked like he was ready to play a blast of sound.

Nicholas swung around his weapon and aimed the longer part of the cross-like shape at Midvalley. Maria took a couple steps back behind him, but she didn’t prep any sort of attack.

Nicholas didn’t spare Maria a glance in her direction, instead moving towards Midvalley with more determination in his step than he’d had when they were walking up the street. It almost looked as though Midvalley hadn’t noticed them coming.

There came a roaring yell somewhere ahead of them: “ _NOW!”_

Midvalley’s sax released a pressure wave of sound and air that caused Maria and Nicholas to stumble, both momentarily stunned.

Maria attempted to shake her head to clear out the ringing in her ears as she fought to regain her balance. She managed to right herself and go into a battle stance just as a number of X-shaped rods shot up onto the bridge, forcing Midvalley to duck and stop playing for a moment.

Maria recovered first, but her reaction was different from Nicholas’. As he rushed forward and positioned his cross-shaped bazooka behind him, Maria’s right hand disappeared as she raised her arm towards Midvalley.

_“Stun Shot!”_

A sphere of bright yellow, sparking energy shot out of the barrel of what was now revealed to be an energy cannon in Maria’s arm. Nicholas was barely able to stop in time before the attack collided with Midvalley, sending sparks cascading across his body. He grunted and dropped to his hands and knees, still holding onto his instrument in one hand.

Maria walked over and calmly nudged the saxophone out of Midvalley’s grip while Nicholas looked at her in surprise.

“What the hell kind of—“

“So you’ve got your sight back? That’s a surprise.” Maria cast Nicholas a sidelong look. “Don’t worry about him; his body’s just stiffened up. He’s not going to be moving for a while.” She knelt down next to Midvalley and looked him over with a guarded expression. He barely managed to turn his head to look at her in return. “So. What’s your goal here? You’re Knives minions, but I get the feeling that he’s not anywhere near here. Vash would have reacted if he was, I think.”

Millie ran up towards them, her giant stun gun still at the ready. She slowed when she saw the sparks still flying off Midvalley, and that his sax was nowhere near him.

Nicholas kicked the sax off the bridge as Millie stopped behind him. The sound of it colliding with the ground below made both Maria and Midvalley flinch.

“My dad would have both your heads for mistreating that poor thing,” Maria said disapprovingly. “An instrument is not to be manhandled like that, nor should it be used to _kill._ Really, Midvalley, how crazy did you have to get in order to push yourself that far?”

Midvalley grunted. His arms were shaking, but staying in place. It was clear he was trying to push himself upright. “This is No Man’s Land, girl. It’s a man-eat-man out here, and sometimes, we have to do what we have to in order to survive.” He sent Maria a grim look. “If you think that you can get away with not killing everyone you run into like that one does, you are going to face a grim reminder of—“

Maria dropped her left fist over his head, sending Midvalley to the ground as the last of the sparks faded. She stood up as her right hand came back, looking down at Midvalley with a disappointed expression.

“Humanity should not have to fall this low,” Maria murmured. “I had hope for all of you in this part of the timeline.” She sighed and shook her head before looking at the other two. “Keep an eye on him? And make sure he doesn’t have any more weapons – maybe gag him, too. I don’t want to find out if he can create pressure sound waves with his voice.”

Nicholas stared at her. “Well, why don’t you—“

Screaming started coming from inside the building, and it didn’t sound like Vash.

“Because Vash is probably in there by now fighting someone and I want to help,” Maria replied evenly.

“I’ll take care of it.” Millie slung her gun across her back and picked up Midvalley. “Come on!” She rushed towards the building ahead of Maria and Nicholas.

Maria didn’t even need to exchange looks with the man; she simply rushed in after Millie and the presently-unconscious man she had slung over one shoulder.

Before any of them could enter the building, however, an explosion went off that caused the three of them to stop short.

Maria looked up sharply and started backing up. “Something exploded in there!”

Nicholas pulled a pistol out of his suit and pointed it at Millie. “Get out of here, now! Before you’re buried alive!”

“No way!”

“I said go, you moron!”

Millie didn’t move away, and neither did Maria, who instead stepped towards the falling landslide of debris as she raised her arms. Fire started to spark along her forearms as she narrowed her eyes in focus.

“Hey! What the hell are you—“

A bright flash of white suddenly took over the debris, causing Maria to pause and blink in surprise. Her eyes only widened when the debris that _had_ been falling at them was suddenly sucked up and vaporized, leaving a neat hole in the top portion of the large, fortified building that the three of them were standing in front of.

“…what the scrap?”

Maria’s question seemed to voice Millie’s and Nicholas’ reactions quite well as they stared up wordlessly at the hole for a moment.

Nicholas recovered first. “Come on!” He rushed in ahead of Maria and Millie, the two of them quickly following after.

It didn’t take them long to reach the room where the source of the chaos was. With a large hole in the middle of the ceiling, the pile of rubble and a man attached to what looked like a giant, smoothed-down drill just barely visible on the top.

Nicholas prepared to point his pistol at the man on the ground, who turned slightly as they approached and eyed them with a weak expression.

“Ahh…Hornfreak failed?” he asked weakly.

“Hoppered,” Nicholas said stiffly. “You set off that blast, didn’t you? Where’s—“

Nicholas’ question was cut off by something suddenly exploding up from the pile of rubble – a large white, feathered wing.

Maria stiffened at the sight of it while Millie gasped and took a step back from the pile in shock.

“Wh-what is that?!” Millie yelped.

“Vash?” Maria called, her tone cautious and bordering on worried. She took a few steps forward, stretching out a hand. “What’s happened?”

“V-vash?” Millie repeated in confusion. “What are you—“

The wing shifted towards Maria and brushed against her hand, causing her to stop moving and blink twice before her eyes widened sharply. She sucked in a breath as tears came to her eyes, then closed them quickly.

Visions passed through Maria’s mind, and she got the feeling that she wasn’t seeing these things through her eyes. The feeling of feathers brushing against her mind gave her more than enough of an indication.

_Death – power – city – lives, gone gone gone – crater, destroyed city --_

Maria shook her head.

“Don’t compare yourself to me,” Maria said. “I’ve done terrible things too.”

Maria responded then with visions of her own: a city gone dark, tall monsters with large horns, standing over her as she was forced to kneel. A tension in the air as time and space was attempting to tear themselves apart.

Another second passed, and the wing shifted again as the rubble started to pull aside, revealing more wings cocooned around something.

And merged with those wings was Vash – or, something that _could_ have been Vash.

Millie moved back a step in shock. “V-vash?”

Vash’s eyes had gone white, cracks appearing across his skin as the wings appeared to be growing out of every inch of him. It was hard to say where the coat – which had started to lose its red color – ended and the wings began. His mouth was partially open, revealing sharper teeth than what a human normally had, but he didn’t appear to be breathing.

Maria’s brow furrowed sharply and she suddenly gritted her teeth as the feathers brushed past her again. “Nicholas, someone’s coming! It feels like a marionette on his own strings!”

Nicholas looked at her sharply. “What kind of—“

There came the rev of an engine, and Maria’s eyes opened sharply right before something shimmered in the air, and a wall of flames materialized around the humans who were in the room right before a motorcycle slammed into it.

The front tire popped and melted with a squeal, then fell to the ground and landed as the man riding it looked at them with a crazed grin.

“Well, this is an interesting development,” he said.

Nicholas cursed. “Bluesummers!”

Vash hissed.

Maria turned to look at the man who had just entered the area.

Short, dark blue hair that was almost a navy color. A cage-like set of headgear that started at the base of his neck that rose up partially around his head. There was a part behind that reminded Maria of a mummy’s coffin. Long, raggedy cape. Bandages. He appeared to be _chained_ to his ride. Or was he _inside_ a coffin attached to the back of another creature? Because there was a second head, eyes covered in leather, right next to the other’s.

She felt the tickle of feathers at the back of her mind as more information trickled in, and her eyes narrowed.

“Pull back, Vash,” Maria said. “I’ve got this handled.”

Vash’s eyes narrowed.

“ _Pull back._ Retaining this form will only drain you of your life force like the other Plants, and then you won’t be able to get to Knives.”

Millie made a confused, scared noise.

Legato Bluesummers’ crazed grin faded, and he looked at Maria with a calculating expression. Meanwhile, Vash’s feathers started to pull back and dissolve slowly. “As pleased as I am and Knives will be that you’ve managed to create a fine outcome, Gauntlet, I was not expecting you to find the missing scout. No matter; rest your body.” Legato grinned again. “So, shall we all go home?”

Nobody moved behind Maria’s fiery barrier for a moment.

Then Maria walked forward, leaving Vash to what he needed to do as her arms became covered in little sparks of fire. “What makes you think that we’ll follow you willingly? From what Vash tells me, you’re a sick-minded bastard who likes playing with people like they’re toys.” Her eyes narrowed. “And I for one don’t _like_ it when people are treated like toys.”

Nicholas and Millie exchanged quick glances, but Nicholas kept his gun trained on Legato. They hadn’t heard Vash say a word – how was it that Maria had?

Legato’s grin didn’t fade. “You’re that one’s other half, aren’t you? Why don’t you come with me? I know he’d _love_ to see you again.”

“My _cousin_ is not yours to play with,” Maria replied shortly. “Don’t think that you can do with him as you like.”

The fire shield around them pulsed with more energy suddenly, turning the flames from a dark red to a brighter red-orange. Little strings of something that were starting to penetrate the shield were suddenly burned back to Legato, who cut them off with an annoyed expression and a slight twitch of his head.

“And don’t think you can do with _us_ as you like,” Maria finished. “Me least of all.” She drew her arms back, then threw them forward—

Only for the torrent of flames spat out by the shield to be caught by a sudden torrent of strange-looking butterflies.

“It wouldn’t do us any good if you took him out now. Not after Knives has gone through so much trouble making sure that he stays alive.”

Maria turned her head sharply at the voice – different, but the same – and caught sight of a tan, teenage human-like figure with long blond hair and the same slitted eyes that a certain other figure had had a few hours before.

“You?!” Hoppered exclaimed from his place on the floor. “I thought we eliminated you!”

“You did and you didn’t,” Zazie replied casually, looking at an alien butterfly on their finger. “It’s difficult getting a new terminal, you know. This one’s fairly decent, wouldn’t you say?”

“I thought you weren’t human,” Maria called over, causing Millie to look at her in sharp surprise.

Nicholas pulled a second pistol out of his suit and pointed it at Zazie, keeping the other one trained on Legato.

“I wouldn’t try it,” Zazie said casually. “It’s impossible to kill us completely, for a start.”

Hoppered growled and started to move one of his arms, holding something that looked like a boot with a spiked sole, only that this one had a trigger.

“That fire is going to melt any bullets that pass through, I suspect,” Zazie added. “If you really want to try to shoot me, go ahead, but you’re going to need that one to make a hole in her barrier first, but I doubt that’s going to happen.” They grinned.

Maria didn’t glance back at Hoppered as he tried to turn his gun on Maria’s back, only for Millie to suddenly jump forward and slam down on his arm with her feet. The resounding crack of bone snapping caused the man to scream in pain, but the sound of the gun clattering to the ground was enough of an indication of what Millie had been attempting.

“You are not taking the people here,” Maria said with a grim tone, not taking her gaze off Zazie and Legato.

“Hmph.” Legato frowned. “As if you could possibly—“

“I burned your strings, you have no hold here. Get—“

It was at this point that Maria’s statement was cut off by a giant, partially melted nail slamming down from the sky, slamming into Hoppered’s side and causing him to scream out in pain.

Vash, who had been nearly done with pulling the wings and feathers back into himself, winced back and away sharply, one arm curled around the wide-eyed form of Meryl, who was looking around in confusion and fear.

“Well, this is quite a pickle!” shouted a voice from above. “All engines, stand by at full power! Prepare for a full retreat at any moment!”

Vash looked up sharply with a look in his eyes – which had turned back to their normal color – that looked like a mix between anguish and anger. There were tears in his eyes, and tears in Meryl’s, too, but the wings were nearly gone now.

And there was a little more black in Vash’s hair than Maria had seen before.

Maria followed his gaze up and noticed an airship above their heads – two large balloons attached to propellers and a cabin deck below.

“Why don’t you pull down that fiery shield, girl?” the voice asked casually. There was a figure standing on a part of the deck above, but Maria couldn’t make out the details of their appearance from where she was.

“Who wants me to?” Maria demanded as Legato started to move, pulling out a pair of large swords. “You’re another one of them, aren’t you? Or are you a third party who’s interested in how things will go?”

Another nail was thrown down suddenly from above, spearing through the second head on Legato’s shoulders and stopping it short.

No – more _nails._

Maria turned sharply and stared in shock, along with the others, as Legato’s entire form was covered in nails.

And then a figure fell from the sky just outside of the shield – long hair, a woman’s suit and skit, a briefcase in one hand. She landed on her rear and whined in pain.

“Ow! Damn that helmsman! I’ll gut him with my bare hands!”

Maria raised an eyebrow at the woman’s words, taking note of her voice and appearance.

The woman rose to her feet and looked over at Legato. “Put that dangerous thing away, Bluesummers. Ah, sorry. You can’t move it now, can you?”

“Crimson Nail,” Legato said. “You…”

Nicholas stiffened, looking alarmed.

“We’re heading back.” Crimson Nail moved over to look up at Legato, her back to Maria and her fiery shield. “You’ve been losing it lately. You’d best remember well--” She put a foot on the head of a nail embedded in one of Legato’s and the monster’s feet. “—your place in the food chain! Or I shall spill out your guts. I mean it.”

Maria lowered her arms slightly, watching as the second head screamed in pain.

And then Crimson’s briefcase turned into a crossbow, and she shot at Legato, sending him flying up into the air with a scream of pain that caused Maria to wince back.

The fire shield flickered, but Zazie didn’t make a move to take advantage of it.

A number of chains were lowered from the airship and were attached to Legato’s nailed form. He started to lift up into the air, dangling there.

“You’re all saved for now,” the Crimson Nail said, looking around at the group behind the fiery shield. “Perhaps it would have been easier to die quickly, never knowing what hit you. But years from now….” She chuckled. “You know those rescue ships coming from Earth? Knives is taking them out.”

Maria’s gaze sharpened suddenly. “We’ll see about that.”

“You will indeed! The last hope of humanity will be destroyed by all of you before your very eyes!”

Meryl’s eyes were starting to wet with tears as she gritted her teeth. The look on her face was one of fear, even as she was sitting under Vash as he remained over her, looking at Crimson Nail with an expression that said he didn’t like what was going on.

“Are you an idiot?” Nicholas demanded. “What are you so happy about? You’re dying with the rest of us, you bastard.”

Crimson smirked. “True, but we all have our own ways of living out what’s left of our lives. Until the end, I’ll take _everything_ I can get my hands on. See ya!”

With that, she took hold of the handle that was dangling from a cable in front of her, and shot up back towards the airship as it flew off.

Maria waited a good minute before she dropped the shield. The area instantly felt a few degrees cooler as Maria breathed in.

When Maria breathed out, her armor shifted into the clothes she had been wearing before, but the change didn’t get very many looks now. Not after Vash’s change in appearance.

Hoppered stirred. “..hey…ladykiller…”

Vash turned his head to look at the man lying near him. Now that the threat had passed, he looked tired. Weathered.

“…never know what ta do with a dying villain, huh?” Hoppered gave a shaky smile. “Sorry, but this is it for me.”

Vash’s eyes widened sharply.

“I can finally have a little peace. But you…you will live and suffer. I won’t kill you. I’ll let you go on living, spitting up blood day by day…in this shitty world.”

With that, Hoppered breathed his last and went limp.

Vash reached over and took his hand in his own, breathing heavily from the exertion of having revealed himself. He closed his eyes and breathed more slowly then, taking a moment.

“…Vash,” Meryl said, hesitant. “Your arm, is it—“

“It’s fine,” Vash said, tone coming out harsher than probably intended. He turned his gaze away. “It…it’s fine now.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know how the Crimson Nail identifies herself. Since Maria doesn't learn it here from another character I am not going to mention the specific term.


	15. Midvalley's Music

In the end, they dropped Midvalley off at the hospital with the excuse that he’d been a bystander caught in the crossfire of whatever it was that had happened. Zazie had disappeared off on their own when they’d been distracted by Crimson Nail, but there weren’t any signs of giant sandworms nearby, so it was likely they had taken off.

Meryl kept herself and Millie at a fair distance from Vash, and made it a point to move to a different floor of the hotel so that they wouldn’t run into him. Maria stayed with them, but only because sleeping in Vash’s and Nicholas’ room would have been awkward and gotten looks.

Maria didn’t spend much time with the boys while they stayed in town, anyway.

“You’re awake.”

Midvalley turned his head sharply and caught sight of Maria sitting next to the hospital bed, looking over the top of a newspaper at him. His expression remained guarded as he looked over.

“No armor?”

Maria shrugged. “It’s on; you just don’t recognize the form it’s taken yet.” She paused. “Vash decided to bury Hoppered. I’d call him your friend, but something tells me he wasn’t much of one.”

Midvalley said nothing.

“They’re staying in town long enough to help clean up the mess the fight left behind. I’d hoped to help as well, but I don’t think they’d be all that welcoming to someone who looks like a teenager at first glance.” Maria shrugged.

“Why?”

Maria blinked, then raised an eyebrow.

“Why am I not dead? My sole purpose was to--“

“Don’t care.”

Now Midvalley blinked blankly.

Maria met his stare and put the newspaper down. “Look, Midvalley. Or Hornfreak or whatever it is you want to call yourself – right now I’m just glad you’re alive and have a chance to go out and live your life without Knives breathing down your neck. Or anyone else who might think to order you around like a pawn in some convoluted game.” Maria folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at Midvalley almost expectantly. “What would you do with that new lease on life?”

Midvalley snorted. “More like new _leash._ You’re the one I owe—“

“You owe me _nothing.”_

The bite in Maria’s voice caused Midvalley to stop short.

“If you want to owe me something that’s your decision,” Maria added. “But when someone decides that they can control the lives of everyone around them for the sake of a crazed goal that will end in the deaths of everyone? There is _nothing_ owed.” Maria shook her head. “So I ask again: what will you do with your new lease on life?”

Midvalley stared at Maria with a guarded expression. He met her serious, angered gaze, then turned his head to look at the wall at the opposite end of the room.

“I would go back to playing, if I had a guarantee that I wouldn’t be found again,” Midvalley said finally.

“Playing to kill people? Or playing because you want to?”

Midvalley shrugged one shoulder. “Everyone’s a mercenary. The music gig was just part-time.”

Maria inclined her head. “…I see. So this world really is as tough as they come. How about this – focus more on the music than on the killing. My parents would be horrified if they knew how terribly bloody music has become.”

Midvalley looked at her strangely.

“Music is something to enjoy doing and listening to. If you kill everyone with it, who will be left to enjoy hearing you play?”

“…doesn’t matter. We’re all going to end up passing on when he succeeds.”

Maria shook her head. “Boy, you’re a pessimist. Do you really think people are going to stand by and let him win? I don’t think so.”

“I’m a _realist._ He’s too strong to--”

Maria laughed, causing Midvalley to look at her sharply.

“Too strong for normal humans, perhaps.” Maria gave Midvalley an appraising look. “I’ve fought beings with powers bordering on god-like before. I don’t doubt that this will be dangerous. But I think you’ll find that the tables have turned a bit more than he was expecting.”

She unfurled the newspaper again. “It doesn’t matter that he has my cousin right now – he also has _my attention._ And he’s not going to like what happens when he _keeps_ is.”

“How the _hell_ can you be this confident?!”

Maria looked over the newspaper at him, and Midvalley suddenly got the impression that he was looking into Vash’s eyes when they weren’t soft and innocent, if that was even possible.

Another crazy beast was looking at him, and this time around, he got the feeling that this one wasn’t out to kill him after using him.

Midvalley swallowed.

“I’m planning on leaving you to your own business,” Maria said. Her eyes suddenly didn’t look so dangerous. “But if you get in our way again like this, I’ll see to it that you’re kept too busy to be able to get in our way again.” She chuckled; it sounded strangely lighthearted, considering the subject.

Maria and the other four left town a few days later, when the clean-up was done. Midvalley slipped out of the hospital, before they left, but Maria didn’t come by to see him at any point after that initial meeting.

Midvalley didn’t think much of it. She had left him with the intention of cutting ties with him, and the impression she gave him said that he didn’t have any more ties back to Legato and Knives….

Midvalley doubted that was true, but he didn’t feel like crawling back to them, either.

He found his saxophone. It was dented in places – the mouthpiece _definitely_ had seen better days – but it was repairable.

Doing gigs in the bars around town sounded boring, but…well, he needed the cash. He’d have preferred a place less _seedy,_ but he’d have to deal with it.

Besides, bars had gossip and information about what was going on in the local area and maybe other parts of No Man’s Land.

Two days after Vash and his goonies left, Midvalley was playing something that had been called “soft jazz” on the old world. He put his own twists on it, of course, but no one here really appreciated his talent.

Knives had, but he’d only appreciated his talent to use it to kill. Not for his ear for the music.

So it came as something of a surprise when a man with dark purple eyes walked up to him and dropped a couple double dollars into his tip jar.

“My friends and I heard your playing,” he said smoothly. Midvalley couldn’t help but feel like those eyes pierced right through him. “It’s not every day you find someone who can play an old style. Where did you pick it up?”

“Old records,” Midvalley said. “Things that survived the fall.”

The man nodded. “You have the same stance as an acquaintance of mine. This place makes musicians as tough as the rest?”

“You learn to get by.”

Something about the man was making Midvalley wary. He was skinny, and dressed in dark colors that should have been impossible to wear at once in the sun, but he looked incredibly comfortable despite the heat. His accent also sounded strange, like metal on metal. It didn’t sound like anything he’d heard before.

“Have you heard about anything strange happening recently?” the man asked. “Stranger than you might have heard normally.”

Midvalley shrugged, trying to push off his unease. “Sandworms appeared in the streets some time back. They normally avoid towns. There was a skirmish at the Dragon’s Nest Fortress too, but things have mostly calmed down.”

The man’s eyes sharpened. “The identity of the perpetrators?”

“Other than a dead body being found…no.” Midvalley shrugged again.

The man inclined his head slightly at that. Never mind that the body used to be Hoppered the Gauntlet, but this man probably didn’t need to know that.

“My allies and I are searching for someone,” the man said. “Her sister is with me. If you know of the fall, do you know of the scouts who were said to have been on the colony ships?”

Midvalley’s eyes widened. _She has a_ sister _?_

The look on his face caused the man to gain a knowing spark in his eye. “It seems we are not far behind. Come, sit; tell us of Flare-Up’s whereabouts.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you guys know, I'm likely not going to be posting at all next week. I've got some things that are going to be keeping me extra busy, so I'll have to wait and see if I do manage to get anything posted. If I do, consider it an extra treat!


	16. The Trigger Happy

In a different town, Maria sneezed.

“Gesundheit!” Vash said.

“What?” Nicholas sent him a sour look.

 _“Danke,”_ Maria replied, rubbing at her nose. When Nicholas sent _her_ a sour look, she raised an eyebrow at him. “What, you haven’t heard of German?”

“What.” Nicholas’ deadpan look seemed to say he hadn’t understood a word of that.

“It’s a language from Earth,” Vash said. “I know German, English, French—“

“Okay, okay!” Nicholas held up his hands. “I get it. You two are both nerds. Now next time, don’t show off.”

“That’s no fun.” Vash frowned at Nicholas disapprovingly. He looked at Maria. “I thought you didn’t get sick, though.”

“I _don’t_.” Maria crossed her eyes at her nose. “This is supposed to happen when someone is talking about you.” She frowned. “But the only people I _know_ who would be talking about me are….” She trailed off, then shook her head. _“Nah._ No way.”

Nicholas looked at Maria with a strange look. “…you’re not making very much sense.”

Maria waved off his stare. “It will make sense in time. Probably. Maybe. Depends on what exactly happens.” She looked over at Vash, raising an eyebrow at the gun that was lying on the table next to him. “So, you said you’re planning on working on figuring out the balance of that one, right? Mind if I come along? I’ve got some technicalities to figure out with my own abilities.”

Vash shrugged. “If you want.” He paused. “Miiight want to…not use anything near where I’m going to be practicing, though. I don’t think the targets would last anything that you’re able to do.”

Nicholas grunted as Maria shrugged one shoulder and nodded in agreement. “Where did you get a power like that, anyway? I know you said that you’ve got these weird mumbo-jumbo powers but—“

“I’ve got my secrets, just like you have yours,” Maria replied, pulling her nose up a little. She grinned at Nicholas’ sour look. “Seriously, though, if you want to ask me questions about _everything_ I can do, you should wait until we’re in an area that isn’t so public.” She motioned with her head to the local bar patrons. “I’ve already told you all I’m _willing_ to tell you, anyway. For now.”

Maria had – when the group had started traveling again as a group – informed them of her present state as a mechanical being who _had_ been human and told them about some of her attacks, including a couple demonstrations of her pyrotechnics. The look on Vash’s face had suggested that it was a refresher course for him, but the others were clearly still in the dark about Maria’s abilities.

The energy cannon in her right arm had gotten nervous looks from Meryl, but Maria hadn’t kept it active for long.

However, it was clear that Maria was keeping things secret from the rest of them – some things that Vash was aware of, but didn’t have the full details for. And it seemed to be driving Nicholas to near-levels of insanity.

“You’ve got some tricks – why don’t you—“

“You’ll learn in time,” Maria said vaguely. “Which – speaking of which, Vash.”

“Hmm?”

“Back in the fortress.” Maria’s expression shifted to concern. “What was it that you felt, when I reached out?”

Nicholas looked between the two of them sharply when Vash’s expression shifted, becoming a little withdrawn, but…not shut-out.

“Warm,” he said, after a moment. “Like fire, but not _raging._ Like the kind of small fire we’d be able to sit around and tell stories and…and eat sugar?” He tilted his head, frowning. “I’m…not sure where the imagery is coming from.”

“Sounds like you’re using words and images from my memories.” Maria frowned. “Still…a campfire? That’s interesting. I can’t say that I was _expecting_ it, but…I like it.” She smiled a little.

“What are you two going on about?” Nicholas muttered.

“Uh—“

“Everyone’s got a mental presence,” Maria said before Vash could say a word. “Only certain people can sense that, and people like me – who _don’t_ have the ability to spread my mind out and touch others – can feel the psychic presences of the ones who can spread out. Like the Plants, for example. Each one of them feels different than the rest. If we’re talking about _Vash,_ it feels like feathers brushing against the side of your consciousness, if that makes any sense. It’s kinda blanket-like. Safe.”

Vash looked surprised at that. Nicholas’ expression was blank.

“O…kay then?” Nicholas swallowed a shot. “Eh, who cares. You two go do your weird…mental talk thing. I’ll stay here. Let you know if anything happens in town.”

“Sounds good.”

Maria and Vash slipped out of the bar, and the two of them made their way out to the outskirts of town, where the gunsmith apparently had set up shop, as well as a range for gunslingers to make use of.

Vash set himself up in front of the targets, looking at them with a determined expression. Maria moved further away from him, summoning her staff as she did.

“Okay, firepower, how far am I willing to go _now_ when I’m under a Drought effect?” Maria muttered to herself. “It’s clear that I’m boosted, but by how much?”

She tapped her staff against the sandy ground a couple times, and then an idea occurred to her, and she grinned a bit.

And so, while Vash shot hundreds of bullets at the three targets in front of him and only hit up the areas that would maim and stop someone without killing them, Maria’s area turned into a show of fire and heat as she almost seemed to dance around, experimenting with different amounts of fire and the effect that it had on the ground below her feet.

The resulting trails of grainy glass that followed didn’t draw Vash’s attention, but they did get someone else’s.

“What the hell kinda weapon is that?!”

Vash turned after having unloaded another salvo of bullets, looking a little surprised as Maria stopped throwing fire around.

A man with blond hair had just come around the other side of the building and was staring at Maria with wide, amazed eyes that clearly said he hadn’t been expecting to see this today.

Maria planted her staff in the sand and put her free hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow. “It’s my weapon, what’s it to you?”

“Well, where’d you get it?” The man started moving forward. “I haven’t seen anything—“

“Watch your step.” Maria pointed down at the melted sand under her feet, causing the man to stop short. “And I’d be worried if you _had_ seen it, considering that this weapon is unique to me and me alone. You wouldn’t be able to know how to use it, much less be able to take this one off my hands.” She demonstrated by letting go of the staff, and it vanished in a flare of sparks that faded into the air. She folded her arms across her chest and looked him over. “How long have you been watching us, anyway?”

The man didn’t give her an answer, instead gaining a sour look before he turned to look at Vash. “What the hell are you doing with your gun, man? Can’t even hit a vital spot, much less aim well! You’ve fired off how many rounds and only left that?”

He motioned to the targets Vash had been shooting at, pointing out the few holes that were clustered together in the shoulders of the flat cardboard.

“We met in the saloon, didn’t we Sheriff?” Vash asked with an innocent expression.

The man walked over to Vash and gave him a punch to the stomach. Maria shifted her stance ever so slightly, but she didn’t move from where she was standing in the middle of her circle of melted glass.

“Name’s Murdock,” the sheriff said seriously. He looked between Vash and Maria. “Let’s get things straight. I don’t like the looks of you two.”

“So it seems,” Vash commented, arm over where Murdock had hit him.

“That guy over there is a direct descendant of the legendary gunsmith Frank Marlon,” Murdock said, nodding towards the building Vash was having target practice behind. “Brandon may be a drunk, but he’s good at what he does. But, I’ve finally figured him out. He’s completely _nuts._ He’s got so many holes upstairs, you don’t know how many of where they are.”

Murdock turned to look at one of the targets Vash had been shooting at and shot it full of a round of holes, taking out a part of the head and the center of the chest. If there _had_ been a real person there, they would have been taken out within a few shots.

Maria stepped over the glass circle in the ground as she and Vash both looked at Murdock with somewhat annoyed stares as he shrugged, a wide grin on his face.

“Idiot!” Out of the back of the building stepped a tanned young man with dark hair that rose off the top of his head in large curls. “You get your hands on a gun and you get an itchy trigger finger. _You’re_ the one who doesn’t know what’s going on. _I’m_ saying you’re still wet behind the ears. ‘Ooooh, look at me! I fired a bullet! Banzai!’” Brandon glared at Murdock. “You can die and be reborn a thousand times, and I still won’t have a gun for a twit like you!”

“THAT’S IT!” Murdock roared. “Let’s settle this! Draw, you—“

An explosion suddenly went off in town, cutting Murdock off – and cutting Maria off before she could cut Murdock off herself.

The four of them turned to look in the direction the explosion had gone off, and the four’s eyes widened.

“That explosion!” Murdock exclaimed. “It came from the bank!” He promptly took off towards the main part of town, leaving the other three behind.

“Demanding for you to draw was only proving your point about the trigger finger,” Maria commented as Murdock quickly left earshot. “Better make sure he has backup before he goes and does something too terribly stupid.” She started running after Murdock.

Vash quickly moved to keep pace with her. “You make sure that the civilians are out of the way – I’ll take care of the problem. If you tried to use your abilities now, it could make things worse –“

“And get us attention we don’t want,” Maria finished, nodding. “This isn’t my first rodeo, Vash. I know what I’m doing.”

Vash blinked a couple times, then nodded as a determined expression crossed his face. He promptly turned and dashed ahead, towards the smoke.

The two of them arrived in the street, only to see Murdock surrounded by gunmen who had their weapons pointed at his head. In front of him stood what looked like a giant dark bowling pin with the yin-yang symbol on the front.

The only people who were out in the open were Millie and Meryl, who were watching from around a corner with wide-eyed expressions.

Maria made her way over to them instantly, leaving Vash to take care of the gunmen. “What are you two doing out here in the open? This could get to be dangerous!”

“Exactly why we have to be out here!” Millie argued as Meryl looked around Maria worriedly. “We have to help Vash if he gets in trouble!”

“Wh-who are you?!” demanded a man from the top of the bowling pin. “What do you want?!”

“I’m a man you don’t want to fight!” Vash called back. “How about you let him down and get out of here? We can settle this without anyone getting hurt!”

“He’s insane, taking them on unarmed!” Millie exclaimed with alarm. Maria turned at Millie’s cry and looked over at the sight herself, eyeing Vash as he stood there with a hand on his shoulder. It probably had been hit by one of the shots from the gunmen who had surrounded Murdock just moments ago. Maria noticed that _now_ , Murdock’s head was being held in a rather large hand.

“Vash!” Meryl yelled. It sounded like her voice broke a little.

The little man standing on top of the bowling pin cackled as he threw out a number of sticks of dynamite. “Here’s a present for ya! Regret you’re actions as you’re—“

A number of gunshots went off, and the dynamite fell to the ground harmlessly without blowing up.

“Lightning, catch!”

Brandon came up behind Vash and threw him his gun. Vash caught it in one hand without looking as he threw back the spare he had been working with, then _went at it_ on the two figures ahead of them.

In the end, the man who made up the shape of the bowling pin and the little man on his head had both been knocked over and knocked out, and Murdock was alive and well, if a little bruised and shaken.

Maria relaxed as Murdock quickly started moving on his own, getting the attention of some of his law enforcement and getting them to handcuff and arrest the two men who had apparently just attempted to rob the bank. The same could be said for their minions.

When Murdock walked past Maria, she noticed that he didn’t have a hand resting on the gun on his hip. Not like he’d had it when he had come up to them earlier during Vash’s shooting practice.

Hopefully this lesson would stick.

**Time Break**

Maria didn’t need to sleep that night, so she sat on top of the roof of the hotel with Vash and watched the two arrested, tied up men from a distance.

“How long are you going to wait?”

Maria turned her head slightly at Vash’s question.

“To tell them the rest, I mean.”

Maria considered the question, then rolled her shoulders back and looked up at the clear night sky above them. “I’m not certain. With Knives running around, I don’t want too much information getting out about what it is I’m capable of. I’d rather be seen as more of a person and less of the walking weapon that I definitely could be. Then again, Knives already has my cousin, which means that me explaining myself would mean that Knives already has that information. It’s just a matter of whether or not he’s asked for it.”

“I got the impression that you’re usually really open about this kind of thing,” Vash remarked.

“…times change, I guess.” Maria shrugged. “I do intend to tell Meryl and Millie. They deserve to know more of what it is they’re getting into. They already know or suspect after having seen what happened a few days ago. But confirming some things should help.”

“…yeah. Maybe.” Vash shook his head. “Meryl can’t look at me the same way anymore. Not after—“

“You have to give her time. Learning about who you are and what you’re capable of was definitely a shock to her. She’ll come back around again.”

“You sure?”

“Pretty sure, yeah. I mean – not very many people took it too well when I told them that I wasn’t human anymore, and in the long run things turned out okay!” Maria gave Vash a grin that was meant to be encouraging.

Vash’s mouth twitched in response, but then his expression faded back to being one that was a bit more serious. “Yeah. I’ll – I’ll think about that. But you think about telling everyone else too, all right? It could help us find Spark in the long run.”

Maria’s grin faded a little at that, and she nodded. “Okay. Yeah; sure.”

Vash spotted Nicholas walking around on the street a few moments later. “Hey, Wolfwood! You’re just coming back? Man, you’re a real night owl.”

Nicholas looked up at the two of them, then silently moved into the hotel and joined them on the roof a few minutes later. “What are you doing?”

“Those Yin-Yang Brothers.” Vash nodded to the group in the main square of the town. “I thought, just in case something happens, I should be here.”

“Is that right?” Nicholas shifted behind Vash. There was a moment of silence, and then he asked, “And what about you, kid?”

“Extra pair of eyes,” Maria replied, but there was an irritated tone in her voice. She turned and glared up at Nicholas. “And I’m _not_ a kid; I’m several centuries older than everyone on this planet. I’ll have to double-check with the people on Earth to see how much time has _really_ passed, but—“

“Okay, _hag,_ I get it.” Nicholas’ dry tone got a glare from Maria in return. She noticed that he was holding a gun loosely in one hand when he hadn’t when he had been down in the street. “Look, we shouldn’t be getting involved in these little skirmishes. It’ll be pointless if you get yourself killed before you meet _him.”_

Vash’s expression sobered at Nicholas’ words, but before he could say anything, an explosion went off in the town square.

Maria leapt to her feet and off the roof of the hotel before Nicholas could say a word. Her hoverboard caught her as she fell, then zipped towards the plume of rising smoke and dust. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vash jumping from roof to roof in the same direction.

Maria burst out of the streets just as an armored truck started driving out, people inside it shooting at Murdock and his lawmen.

“Hey!” Maria shifted to her armor and activated the energy cannon. The shot of electrical energy that followed slammed into the side of the truck, causing a number of yelps to go off inside as the electricity danced over the metal surface outside and inside. “Do you mind?! Some people would like to have some peace and _not_ worry about their town getting blown up!”

One of the sparking doors opened, and a skinny figure with blond hair and a yin-yang eyepatch jumped out angrily, coming towards Maria. “What the hell kind of—“

Maria shot again, hitting him in the chest with another Stun Shot.

Vash, who had appeared on the other side of the clearing with his gun up at the ready, lowered it slowly and blinked in surprise.

“The people on this planet are woefully underprepared for old high tech,” Maria commented dryly. “I’m considered _old_ tech on Earth, and that’s saying something.”

The lawmen who were standing in the area took a second to register what had just happened, then rushed forward towards the armored truck and grabbed the people who had taken over the armored car.

“You take the fun out of everything,” Nicholas commented as he came out of the tavern. “I was ready to leap in and do something.”

“Well, I was ready faster,” Maria replied as she deactivated the energy cannon. “This is what comes from _not_ using weapons that not only need bullets but also aren’t a part of you.”

The two men exchanged looks at that.

“With that said, though, I hope that you two never have to go through what I did in order to get this ability.” Maria shifted out of her armor and stepped off the hoverboard. It disappeared under her jacket a second later. “Let’s go back and get some sleep, those of us who need it. Something tells me we have further to go.”


	17. Knives is Moving

The next town over had a large cathedral sitting near the shopping district. Maria debated going in, but when she saw Vash wander in himself, she followed in after him.

The sermon was…interesting. More nostalgic than anything. It almost felt like the pew at the back of the church was made from the same wood and cushion that she had sat on before.

She might have fallen asleep if she wasn’t human, and if she wasn’t watching the slumping way Vash was sitting in the pew in the middle of the church.

Maria leaned forward in the pew a little. _You’ve got quite the weight on your shoulders, Vash. What’s it going to take for that weight to be lifted…?_

Then a couple people popped over the pew and waved a paper and a gun at Vash, and Maria knew that she was going to act sooner rather than later.

But she wasn’t about to attack in the middle of a _church._

She leaned back and watched as Vash let the two men calmly lead him out of the church. The air flickered around her, causing one of the men to look over in her direction before looking away again, not having noticed her.

A smirk flickered across Maria’s face for a moment before it faded. Cloaking – very useful.

As soon as they moved past her, Maria rose from the pew and moved after them, stepping lightly as she shifted from clothes to armor.

Her suspicions were correct when they stepped out of the church and into the open, hot air.

“Nicely done!” the large, muscular man praised. “You got him out without a struggle! I’m the bounty hunter Justin, baby!!”

“Bounty hunter?!” Meryl exclaimed from nearby. “What do you mean?! The central sheriff’s department rescinded Vash’s wanted status a long time ago—“

“Shut up!” Justin roared back. “The bounty on him’s not from the government – it’s personal! Placed by Mrs. Haliburton! Ten years ago, she lost her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in one fell swoop! That’s right, in July. Understand?!”

Maria winced a little. The events of the Dragon’s Nest Fortress were coming back quickly at that. Now Vash’s feelings in the church made much more sense.

“Dead or alive, 20 million double dollars!” Justin aimed his large cannon of a gun at Vash. “No hard feelings, okay?!”

Maria moved to one side, and Vash moved to the other as the machine gun went off at high speed. Maria zipped around the people shooting at Vash as he dodged the shots with practiced ease—

At least, until Maria made herself known by grabbing the barrel with flame-covered hands that carried enough heat that the gun dented suddenly.

“What the—“

“As much as I agree with the fact that she lost someone and there is a debt to repay, _paying life for life_ will not give her the satisfaction and peace she is looking for,” Maria snapped as the cloaking dropped. Cries of alarm and surprise went up when Justin’s goonies noticed her for the first time. “She is cold and empty now, and killing the man who took her family will only leave her moreso. I know you don’t care because of the money –“

“Damn right. Who the hell are you?!”

“—but _believe me when I saw that you are not to tangle with this man._ Fate stands against and with him. And it will stand against _you_ if you think of trying to do anything.” Maria bared her teeth in a snarl as the flames on her hands licked up her arms and stood up over her shoulders in matching pillars. “Do you want to face against a man who has death follow him everywhere he goes and see _yourself_ die in the process?”

Justin tried to shake Maria off his gun, but she just moved to stand on his arm. There was the sound and smell of burning flesh under her armored feet. “Get off you—“

A loud siren suddenly went off, cutting Justin off.

_“We are bringing you the following special news bulletin: at 8:09 this morning, local time 14:09, in the Nouve Town Municipal Ship, there was a massive murder. All bodies were cut with a sharp blade. The sheriff’s department has begun an investigation. It may be the work of a completely new armed group. Also, numerous incidents report an enormous, blade-like object emerging from the ship. The area has fallen into a state of panic. Stay tuned for further reports.”_

“Spikey!” Nicholas forced his way out of the crowd as the people standing around the fight looked around at the loudspeakers. “It’s him! Let’s move! Playtime’s over – we’re skipping town in five minutes!” He uncovered his cross-like weapon with a flash of unbuckling buckles and unfurling cloth.

The goonies standing around Justin moved to aim their weapons at him as Justin glared daggers at Maria.

“Never mind!”

The goonies started to fire, and Vash started to run, dodging the blasts at a faster speed than was normally possible—

Only for a wall of fire to shoot up, stopping the bullets short and _melting_ them, causing them to lose their momentum and collapse into the sand as sizzling metal.

“Go!” Maria barked, keeping her hand up. “I’ll follow after you!”

“Maria—“

“I said _go!”_

Meryl cut herself off, blinking in surprise at Maria’s roar.

Vash and Nicholas took no time, running out of the clearing in the crowd and out of sight.

Justin roared and made a grab at Maria, only to roar in pain when his hand came into contact with her armor. “What the hell are you—“

“Someone that you should not have _crossed,”_ Maria hissed in reply. She jumped off his arm as the fiery wall dissipated, and she landed on the dirt in front of them, arms up in a defensive stance. “You have found a scout from Earth. You have _annoyed_ this scout from Earth, who came with your ancestors to this place. Are you willing to come after the Fire Storm?”

Justin remained standing, but the goonies with him exchanged looks, and took a few steps back. The people around them exchanged nervous looks while Meryl and Millie looked on with concern and alarm.

The dirt under Maria’s feet was starting to bubble.

The crowd around, in response to the sight, started pulling back, cries of alarm rising up very quickly. Justin was also starting to lose his bravado.

Maria backflipped onto her hoverboard and rose above the crowd.

“Vash the Stampede has a bigger part to play than being the brunt of petty revenge,” Maria said, increasing the volume of her voice. “Do not hunt him for his head, hunt him for his _heart._ Seek his help, and he will give it. Seek to harm him, and you will still find help, but you will also find _shame.”_

With that, Maria turned and flew off over the town, looking for Vash and Nicholas. She eventually managed to find them, slipping through side streets, and Maria moved down to join them.

“I’ve left them with some things to think about,” Maria said lightly, causing the two of them to look up at her. “Where is it that we’re going?”

“What makes you think you’re coming with us?” Nicholas responded.

“He has my cousin,” Maria replied. “I have every reason to be here.”

Nicholas considered saying something else, but at a grim look from Vash, he said nothing.

**Time Break**

The metal was cut so sharply and smoothly that it reflected the sky above their heads, unlike the worn down outside edge of the pillars.

“Oi! Spikey! Hag!” Nicholas barked. “He says it’s unstable over there! Come on!”

Maria scowled at Nicholas’ nickname and stuck her hands in her pockets, having switched back from her armor. She strode after Nicholas, Vash trailing behind. “I tell him not to call me a kid and he’s calling me an old crone; I wonder if there’s _anything_ in-between he could call me that would be _reasonable._ ”

Vash snorted, but he didn’t show a flicker of amusement.

“..um, well yes, but any place here could collapse at any time, actually,” said the little old man who was guiding them into the chamber ahead.

“So, what Gramps, we didn’t pay you enough?” Nicholas asked, a slight distance ahead of them.

“Too true. You know, considering hundreds of people were killed and dismembered in this ship. Basically, it’s a restricted area. If you don’t pay extra, I’ll leave you here.”

Nicholas was punching the old man in the face when Vash and Maria caught up. “It’s not quite the same as cash, but why don’t you take some of these?”

“That’ll be plenty,” the old man said weakly, dangling from Nicholas’ hand.

“H-hey!” Vash yelped. “Wolfwood, what are you doing?!”

“Making sure that a greedy old man isn’t going to try and mooch us of any more cash!” Nicholas barked in reply. He put the man down however.

Maria’s gaze moved up to the ceiling of the area, scanning the Plant bulbs above them. They looked like they’d gone dim – likely because of what had happened not too long ago.

But…a _blade?_ What was it that Knives was capable of, if he could cut metal so finely?

“Over there.”

Maria looked down from the ceiling as the old man spoke. He pointed in the direction of a point in the darkness of the main chamber.

“That’s where the unidentified body and the Plant technician were,” the man said.

Maria saw Vash’s expression shift ever so slightly as he stared at that point in space. She followed his gaze, but saw nothing there.

Then she noticed something else, and moved her gaze up and sucked in a breath sharply.

“That Plant.” Maria moved forward, jaw clenching a little as she looked at the splatter of drying blood, the dark black hair, and limp form in the glass bulb. “It’s died a violent death.”

“Ah, yes, a Final Run,” the old man said gravely. “The Plant had every last piece of energy sucked out of it. They always end violently.”

“They don’t have to.” Maria stepped onto her hoverboard, not looking at Vash or the old man. She flew up to the bulb of the dead Plant, then looked around before catching sight of a Plant that was glowing a bit more brightly than the others. She moved closer to it and put a hand on the glass.

_Campfire here. Can you tell me what happened?_

It took a moment before there was a response from the other side of the glass – a hand putting itself up on the glass, the familiar face of a Plant.

Moments later, she was hit with a series of sensations – energy being drawn out, death, much death – one of their own, out in the world, killing those who watched over them –

Maria pulled herself out of the memories with a couple blinks to help her focus, then bowed her head against the glass, conveying emotions that could not be said with words.

_I will do what I can to keep more from dying, but I can only do so much. Be patient with us mortals who cannot see everything._

Maria pulled back after she sensed the acknowledgement from the other, then lowered herself to the floor of the chamber.

Vash was looking at the dead Plant with an expression akin to recognition and despair. “Tesla,” he murmured.

Maria frowned at the name, but when he looked over at her, she nodded a little. “He was here. They’re worried about what’s going on, and they don’t want to see more die – at his or anyone else’s hands.”

Vash nodded, somewhat distractedly.

“We should keep moving,” Nicholas said after a moment. “We’re not going to find any more clues here.” He motioned for them to come out of the area. “Come on; let’s go to the next town.”

Vash stood there for a moment, then nodded absently and turned and followed slowly after Nicholas.

Maria fell into step next to Vash. “Was Tesla another Plant you knew on the other ship?”

“She was…someone like us,” Vash said quietly. “They didn’t know what to do with her, on the ship. They experimented and…” He sighed and shook his head. “Knives blocked out the memory of finding out about it. Rem, she…she told us she didn’t like what had happened. She wanted to stop it, but…I remember being so angry after that. I remember being _so angry_ about being surrounded by humans. Rem got through to me, but Knives….”

Maria absorbed that, quietly, then nodded a little. “I see. And more pieces…” She frowned. “Do you know if my cousin was aware of this?”

“He was just as horrified about it as Rem was,” Vash confirmed. “He hadn’t been in the ship at the time – he’d been doing maintenance on another ship, and was with us when we found out about Tesla. It was…terrifying, seeing his anger.”

“It’s rare that he is angry,” Maria commented. “But when he is, he isn’t to be crossed. I hope that he is all right.”

Vash hummed a little in response, but he said nothing else.

**Space Break**

Knives had gone insane, absorbing one of his sisters from the bulbs.

Joshua could hear them screaming, plugged into the system as he was. They wanted peace, they wanted the violence and pain to stop, but all it was doing was escalating.

He closed his eyes, glad for a moment of respite from Knives’ presence, Knives’ control, the pain of his core dancing across his form and leaving his thoughts mostly muddled.

He didn’t have much longer, and he knew it. At this rate…he wasn’t going to see Knives’ plans come to fruition.

He knew Maria was out in the open, now. It was only a matter of time before she got caught up in all this much more deeply than he already was.

Hopefully, he would be able to see her again, and not in the state that he was in….


	18. Old Friends

Nicholas whacked Vash in the side of his face with a rubberband, looking more than a little bored.

Maria raised an eyebrow at him from where she as sitting on her hoverboard, one leg dangling over the side and swinging back and forth as they moved slowly along.

Vash didn’t give a physical reaction. Then again, they couldn’t even see an eye twitch, considering they were hiding behind Vash’s tinted sunglasses.

Nicholas slumped forward a little. “Jeez. The legendary gunman, reputed to be a human calamity, and he looks like he’s been to a funeral, and _another_ funeral, and yet _another_ funeral.”

Vash smiled a little. “That’s not fair.”

“That’s not fair?” Nicholas repeated.

It took only a second for Nicholas to have Vash’s head stuck in the sand under his bound-up cross.

“I’m sayin’ ya look like you should be swimmin’ in the river in Hades!” Nicholas exclaimed. “Go to hell and don’t come back!”

Maria was able to hear Nicholas’ joking, annoyed tone in his voice and barely bit back a laugh.

She was about to let herself go into a full-blown laugh when a sound in the distance caught her attention.

It got Nicholas’ too. “Gunshots.” He pulled the cross off Vash, who pulled himself to his feet.

“Better go check it out.” Maria rose to her feet on her hoverboard, causing the metal device to dip a bit before righting itself.

Vash was already running towards the source of the sound.

It didn’t take the trio too long to reach the source of the commotion: two men, one forced to stand on the other, looked like they were about to get killed. One shot, the other hung, considering the setup.

Vash had shot out the rope before Maria got there, but she still circled above the setup anyway, looking down at the group with a frowning expression.

“And what have these two men done that gains your ire?” Maria asked.

The men shuffled their feet at the question as Vash worked to untie the two men from their bonds.

“That’s the girl who melted bullets at Colnago!” one of them exclaimed. “I saw her do it and defend – that’s Vash the Stampede!”

The men looked around even more nervously as Maria folded her arms across her chest.

“Everyone, lower your guns,” Vash called. “Go anywhere you like. But don’t come anywhere near this town again.”

The men looked between Maria and Vash, uncertain. But then they did start to disperse slowly, leaving the two men behind as Nicholas approached at a more casual pace.

“You two made quick work of them,” Nicholas commented.

“Fear of a reputation does things,” Maria replied. She lowered herself to the ground again and sat on her hoverboard. “I wish I didn’t have to rely on it.”

Nicholas grunted, but didn’t offer any other comments.

**Time Break**

“You two really helped us out back there,” commented the skinnier of the two men. He poured himself a glass of some alcoholic drink and raised it at Vash and Maria. “I’ve heard rumors about you two – Miss Fire Storm and Mister Famous. So, are the stories true?”

“They are,” Vash said honestly.

Maria shrugged. “Depends on what the stories are. I haven’t been really present for very long here yet.”

The skinny man grunted, then threw back the shot. Then watched as Vash did the same, only to nearly fall flat on his face over the table. Maria simply watched as they went back and forth, the laughter in the room only increasing.

And then there was movement in one corner of the room, causing Maria’s head to turn to track it.

A woman with brown hair that almost looked red was standing up from a table, piercing blue eyes focused on Maria with an expression of relief and annoyance.

“And where the Pit have you been?” the woman asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Maria was across the room hugging the woman before anything else could be said. “Wildfire! You made it!”

“Oof!” Wildfire nearly stumbled back a step when Maria practically collided with her; Nicholas looked over with a guarded, but curious expression. “Well, duh. Like I was going to leave you here to handle things on your own.” Her expression darkened. “No sign of Josh yet, huh?”

Maria shook her head, pulling out of the hug. “No; he’s probably still in the clutches of the person causing this whole planet trouble. I haven’t been able to see him in any way yet.”

“No visions? That’s a real surprise.”

Maria shrugged. “They’ve been coming less and less. I guess it was only just a matter of time before they stopped.”

“For now.” Wildfire gave Maria a pointed look. “This is very quickly escalating from a war to a massacre. Have you found the cause of it yet?”

“I know the name of it, but I haven’t seen him face to face,” Maria replied with a shake of her head. “I’m getting the feeling that I’ll see him soon enough, though.”

Wildfire’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Maria nodded back towards the group of figures behind her. “Just a hunch.”

“Hey, hag, who are they supposed to be?” Nicholas called over. “Those three don’t look like they’re from around here.”

Maria smirked at that and looked over the other two figures in turn – the skinny man with purple eyes and a nearly unreadable face, and another young man with blond hair that held bright blue streaks, his eyes equally bright with Wildfire’s. “They’re friends, Nicholas. And they’re older than me, but I _really_ don’t think you want to call Wildfire a hag.”

“He does and he’s going to wake up with bruises all over,” Wildfire said with a knowing smirk. She moved over to the bar and took a seat next to Nicholas. She held out a hand. “Name’s Wildfire, but most humans know me as Frieda when I want to keep things quiet.” She grinned. “My two friends over there are Soundwave and Jolt.”

“Objective: Locate Flare-Up: Complete,” Soundwave said.

Maria raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you talking like that because you want to or because you’re not going to be able to stop anytime soon?”

Soundwave gave a slight grin in reply, but said nothing.

“Flare-Up?” Nicholas repeated. “That some kinda nickname?”

“Code name, but it’s more of a second name now.” Maria waved off his curious look as Vash looked over in her direction now. “Most people, if they don’t know me as Maria, call me that. It’s also why Joshua’s also called _Spark,_ by the way.”

Vash rose to his feet. “So then…these three are…” He looked between Maria and Wildfire, as though looking for a confirmation of some kind.

Maria grinned at him. “This is the help _I_ called for.”

Vash’s eyes widened at that. “You – back in the –“ He cut himself off when Maria nodded.

“Message: Sent to Earth,” Soundwave said. “Cybertron: sent allies to assist. Approach: cloaked. Whereabouts: Secret.”

Nicholas whistled. “I didn’t think that aliens would look so human.”

Wildfire patted Nicholas on the head. “We’re under disguise, dummy. Do you really think that we’re gonna waltz around this planet looking like we normally do when the people on this planet freak when Maria shows off? Pit no.” She cuffed him gently on one side of his head, getting a scowl from him. She laughed in response. “So, what do you two go by?”

“Wolfwood,” Nicholas grunted. “And that one’s Spikey.”

“Oi!” Vash looked a little hurt under the buzz of alcohol in his system.

Wildfire chuckled. “Well, it fits.”

“Vash spends a good hour gelling his hair up – or doing something with it to make it stick up like broom bristles.” Maria chuckled. “So yeah, it definitely does.”

“Oh come on, don’t you go poking at my look!” Vash looked at Maria disapprovingly.

The statement only caused Wildfire to burst out laughing. “Oh, let her have it! She probably hasn’t been able to talk to people in _centuries!_ Give her a bit to get used to people again.”

“She’s been traveling with us for a _while_ now, I don’t think that she has all that much of an excuse,” Nicholas replied dryly.

“When you’re in cold sleep for several centuries without anyone to talk to, I _should_ think that gives her an excuse,” Jolt called over from the table in the corner. He sighed and shook his head. “I just hope that Spark isn’t in any worse shape.”

“…how well did you know him?”

“I was his research partner.” Jolt looked Nicholas in the eyes, causing the man to pause and consider that. “Everything he or I discovered that overlapped with the other’s research, we shared. I know about the discoveries that led to the power sources that were used to bring you out this far – Joshua and I spoke with them _personally_ , just to make sure they knew what they were getting into and that there was always a way out.”

Vash’s expression shifted at that, going from guarded and grim to more alarmed. “So…that makes you….”

Jolt shrugged. “I’m Joshua’s older brother, we’ve grown so close. Make of that what you will, but it is the truth. Depending on how damaged he is, I intend to do what I can to repair him. And depending on what happens from here on out, I can’t guarantee that my anger will be held back.” His blue eyes seemed to crackle at his words.

Vash’s eyebrows shot up at that.

“You really think you can—“

“I can and I _will,”_ Jolt said pointedly, cutting Nicholas off. “So long as his core remains intact I can simply replace parts and have him in working order again. If his core – his Spark – his _soul_ – is damaged or harmed in any way…then there will be Pit to pay, and I promise you that the source of that damage is going to get his aft handed to him up through his spine and into his brain.”

The grim tone in Jolt’s voice made the bar go strangely silent for a moment, not counting the soft music coming from the radio. At least, until a loud _BRRRZZZZT_ blasted from it before the sound became nothing more than a constant dull roar of static.

There was a mumbled complaint from the two men that had been rescued earlier, now having gone drunk. Vash and Soundwave, on the other hand, stiffened, as Maria’s gaze glazed over for a second.

_\--Satellites are going down! The world’s communication system is—_

Maria was dashing out the door before in seconds, Vash and Soundwave on her heels.

Wildfire scrambled out after them as the three of them stopped under the now-dark sky, looking upwards. “Okay, what just—“

“He’s moving.” Maria pointed up at the glowing streak of light that went across the sky and landed somewhere in the distance.

“Satellite connection: cut,” Soundwave announced. “Communications: more difficult. Short-range.”

“Yeah, you’re not getting far on that with two suns,” Nicholas muttered.

“I know.” Soundwave fixed Nicholas with a dark look.

“You guys shouldn’t follow us,” Vash said. “I mean – it was nice being able to meet you and talk with you at least a little before the end, but…you shouldn’t get involved.” He looked away from the sky and over to Maria and the others. “Nicholas and I will go on alone. This isn’t your fight to get involved in.”

Wildfire snorted. “You say that now, but Maria’s already _gotten_ involved. And there’s no way she’s going to let this go.”

“No,” Maria agreed. “If you want to fight Knives alone, I can see your reasoning in that. But he has my cousin. I’ll stay with you long enough to at least reach him and get him out of the way. After that, you’ll have to ask for my help if you feel you need it. Does that sound like a fair trade?”

Nicholas looked away from Maria as she looked at both him and Vash, not taking her eyes off either of them.

“…all right,” Vash said, after a moment. “Do what you can for him when you get to him.”

“We plan to,” Maria replied. She looked over at the three who had joined them. “Let’s go.”

“As your guide, I’m not sure what he’s gonna think of this,” Nicholas grumbled. “But after seeing what _she_ can do, I’m not about to try and stop ya.” He motioned with his head for the others to follow. “It’s not far. Come on.”


	19. Joshua

The “destination” happened to be the remains of a colony spaceship, pointing up towards the sky on the other side of a cable bridge.

“This is the last stop on the line, Vash the Stampede,” Nicholas said with a grim tone. He looked back at Maria and her three companions and met Maria’s grim expression. “Have you prepared yourselves?”

“I’m ready,” Vash replied. “I’ve thought about this since the beginning.”

“I guess you have.” Nicholas looked back at Vash. “That’s just like you. Now, what route shall we take to get in there?”

Vash started moving towards the dark slit in the main part of the ship, which only caused Nicholas to make a barking exclamation of surprise.

And then Maria started to move after him, but Nicholas grabbed her before she could move past him.

“Hang on. You stay a few feet back from us.” Nicholas gave Maria a pointed look. “Let us do our thing, and then you can do yours.”

Maria hesitated at that, but then nodded slowly. “If that’s how you feel about it. But don’t expect me to be too far back.”

“Fine.” Nicholas let Maria go, then moved forward after Vash, who was glancing back and waiting for Nicholas to catch up.

Maria waited for Nicholas to catch up to Vash before she followed after them, her appearance flickering and fading from visible sight. She could hear the sound of feet hitting the ground behind her, but she didn’t look back. She already knew who it was that was behind her, so she didn’t look back.

The wave of pressure that hit Maria and caused Nicholas to nearly stumble onto his hands and knees caused Maria to stop short with a wince.

_Knives – stabbing – pain pain pain—_

Maria came out of it with a slight gasp and a shake of her head. She took in a shuddering breath and refocused as Nicholas pushed himself up to his feet and Vash looked over at him with a slightly concerned expression.

The pressure in the air she felt now was intense -- it was like she was being stabbed multiple times over. Was this what Knives’ presence alone was capable of?

Maria moved in after them as they disappeared into the darkness on the other side of the door.

The dark chamber ahead was dimly lit by something ahead of them; Maria could barely make out what looked like a set of stairs reaching up to a platform high above. There was someone standing nearby – the same figure who had been at the Dragon’s Nest Fortress.

“I’m surprised,” the Crimson Nail said casually. “I never imagined you’d just walk right in. He’s been waiting for you.”

Vash and Nicholas both looked like they were more ready for a fight in that moment.

“Don’t worry,” Crimson added. “As long as you don’t try anything, you’ll get the full VIP treatment. I can’t say the same for your traveling companions, however. Drop your disguise, dearie, I know you’re there.”

Maria dropped the cloaking. “I’m just here for my cousin Joshua Spark Langstom. If I have to fight to get him back, I will.”

Crimson inclined her head at that. “So, that robot has a name?”

“He was human before.” Maria’s gaze narrowed. _“I_ was human before. Don’t treat us like we’re something less.”

Crimson hummed at that. “Well, you’re in luck. We’ve used it – him, I suppose – as much as we need him.” She nodded to Vash. “You go on up.”

Vash nodded, then looked up the stairs before looking back at Nicholas and Maria. “I’ll be all right. You be careful.” He pushed his glasses up, then started up the stairs with purpose in his step.

Nicholas looked like he wanted to follow, but at a look from Crimson he stayed in place.

“This is how Master Knives wants it,” Crimson said. “Don’t try to interfere. I have questions about where your true loyalties lie, especially considering who you have been traveling with for…quite some time.” Her eyes flicked to Maria. “I’ll go and get your…cousin, was it? Wait here, and don’t go up the stairs. Master Knives is sleeping, waiting for his brother. It would be best if your presence didn’t further disturb him.”

She didn’t wait for Maria to give a nod or say anything in response; instead, she turned and walked off into the darkness.

“That bastard,” Nicholas muttered. He shifted his grip on his weapon slightly, then stiffened and tore off the covering from his cross just as another weapon came flying out of the darkness and slammed into his.

Maria took a step back into a defensive stance as two figures came out of the darkness at Nicholas, one wearing half a skull mask and armed with two cross-like weapons and the other strapped to a wheelchair armed with one cross-like weapon.

“How did it feel to die once, Wolfwood?” asked the man in the wheelchair. “Or should I call you _Chapel?_ You should have gone ahead with it. Then I wouldn’t have pumped you full of lead for that _cursed_ name.”

“Hey!” Maria barked, getting their attention. “I don’t know what it is that you’re doing, but if you want to take him down you’re taking me on too.” She shifted to her armor and activated her energy cannon. “I don’t know what petty squabbles you have, but I don’t care. I’ll stun the lot of you and melt your guns. Do I make myself clear?”

The two men stared at Maria with guarded expressions. Nicholas didn’t look in her direction, because _he_ was staring at the man with the half-skull mask.

 _“Livio,”_ Nicholas said in shock. He gritted his teeth. “Damn you!”

The man in the wheelchair grinned. “The perfect plan, isn’t it? In other words, I’ve got more than one weapon at my disposal. And he’s a fine specimen, too. Better than a _certain_ someone. The laughs just don’t stop.”

Maria fired a Stun Shot at his feet, keeping him from saying more. He shifted his gaze to her for a moment, then looked back at Nicholas.

“Well, there’s no one I mistrust more than you,” the man said. “But I’ll let it pass for the time being, seeing as you have a _friend_ for the moment.” There was a sneering tone in his voice. “So long as I still take a breath in, I’ll gladly kill you in your sleep any time.”

The two of them disappeared back into the darkness.

Nicholas cursed loudly and looked at Maria. “You’ve gotten yourself on their hit list, I hope you realize that.”

“When I meet them in the future, they won’t have much of a list to work from,” Maria replied calmly. “I am crazy powerful here, but not as powerful as Vash or Knives. Their weapons won’t last to well against mine.”

“That’s quite a declaration,” Crimson said as she walked back into the circle of light. Her eyes moved to the entrance, and her smile shifted a little before she looked back at Maria. “I have your little friend here. Or well, what’s left of him. He doesn’t have much time left in him.”

There came a metallic shriek from the open doorway, and a blast of blue lightning flew into the room and sent Crimson flying backward, forcing her to let go of the limp form that she had been dragging behind her.

Maria ran forward, anger and panic shown clear on her face as she reached the prone form that was lying on the ground. Jolt followed in after her, electricity sparking from his hair and eyes like he had just stuck his hand in an electrical socket.

Nicholas stared. “What the – what kind of people—“

“Joshua!” Maria pulled the other up against her as she fell to her knees. Nicholas got a better look at the young man now – brown hair, limp expression, and blue and green armor similar to Maria’s.

The only other difference here being that it looked like it had been torn apart and melted in some places. Cables and some sort of blue liquid leaked out of him and onto the floor.

Something in his chest was flickering, but faintly. Like a candle about to go out.

“Come on, Josh, come on.” Maria’s voice was breaking in a way that Nicholas hadn’t heard it before. “Don’t do this, _please_ don’t do this.”

The young man’s head stirred weakly, and a pair of eyes opened with some difficulty. The indigo color flickered from white to full and back. “..ri…”

Jolt pulled something out of his long light blue coat that looked like a scanning device as he knelt next to Joshua. “Everything’s going to be all right. We’re going to get you repaired and—“

Joshua shook his head weakly, cutting Jolt off. “Not…poss….”

“Don’t say that!” Maria hissed. “You can be repaired, don’t—“

“D-da-damaged in crash. S-sustained, n-not repaired. S-spark overhe-eeeating.” Joshua winced as sparks flew over his form. “Can’t…can’t focus.” He winced again as more sparks flew up from his open, exposed chest. The dented casing around his power core glowed slightly.

“No!” Maria started to move her hands towards the core, but Jolt put a hand in her way.

He shook his head quietly at her, tears in his eyes too. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing else we can do. His Spark has taken more pain and force than anyone is supposed to have.”

“…subspace…trans-f-fer…Jolt.” Joshua started to move one of his arms weakly; Jolt reached over and grabbed the hand instantly. “T-take…everything….”

There was a series of sparks that ran from Joshua’s arm through to Jolt’s; Jolt didn’t flinch, but the look on his face said more than enough.

“S-stop…Knives….”

With that said, Joshua’s eyes flickered wildly as the sparks from his core increased…then stopped suddenly as he went still.

As he did, a blue-white spark of energy shot up from Joshua’s open chest, flicked around Jolt and Maria, then seemingly dissipated into nothingness.

Nicholas, who had been watching, blinked a couple times when the spark of energy had disappeared. He’d heard them talking about a Spark and how Joshua had a _soul,_ but…he hadn’t thought that it was _literal._

Then he felt the shift of pressure in the air and nearly doubled over again from the force of it.

Maria and Jolt both flinched at the feeling and exchanged looks.

“We need to get out of here.” Maria’s tone of voice had change, becoming sharper and more grim. She pushed herself up to her feet with some difficulty and lifted Joshua’s dead metal body up in her arms. “Nicholas, come on. Vash can handle himself.”

“Can he?” Nicholas managed through gritted teeth. “I have to…stay!”

“Nick—“

“It’s his decision,” Jolt said. He looked at Nicholas with a grim, unhappy expression. “Keep in touch.” He tossed a disk at Nicholas, who managed to catch it with one hand.

“What—“

“That doesn’t need satellite connection,” Jolt said. “If something comes up, speak at it.” He started moving towards the door quickly, keeping a hand on Maria’s arm and keeping her in stride with him.

The glare that Maria sent at Nicholas as they went out the door made him feel like someone had just pressed a blade against his neck.

Maria and Jolt met Wildfire and Soundwave outside, both of them looking at the entrance with guarded expressions.

“Vash asked us to stay out of his fight,” Maria said shortly. “If anything goes wrong, we have to do what we can to keep the people of this planet alive and as safe as possible. I am not going to let people die in this wasteland.”

Her grip tightened on the limp form in her hands.

“No one else is going to lose their lives here. Not if I can help it.”


	20. Turning Cogs

 The shuttle which Jolt and the others had come in wasn’t very far from the tavern that Maria had met them in. It was cloaked, and large enough to carry the Cybertronians if they wanted to be bigger than they were in their human-looking forms.

The four of them were somber coming up the ramp into the Cybertronian-sized shuttle. The two figures who met them at the door looked relieved at first, but quickly became grim.

“When I felt a Spark leave this world for the next, I had hoped…” The tall, blue-armored being with a golden spear knelt down and looked at the group that was entering the shuttle. A single finger hovered over the torn-open chest of Joshua, whose paint had started to turn from its soft blue and bright green to different tones of gray. “Who did this?”

“A monster,” Maria replied. Her grip tightened on the body; if it hadn’t, the others would have seen her hands shaking. “A monster found him after we crashed on this world, and refused to repair him – or did repair him, but then tore him apart again.” She looked up at the giant being, eyes wet. “Sparkseer, I – I couldn’t save him. And now I feel more alone than ever.”

Sparkseer nodded quietly in response, then moved aside to let them up into the shuttle. “You might as well take what remains to First Aid. She will preserve what she can, that he may have a proper burial when this is over.”

Maria nodded, then moved forward with Wildfire falling into step next to her. As they walked in, the other figure – human, wearing a suit and with a familiar instrument slung across his back – stepped back and looked at the body Maria was carrying with a guarded expression.

Jolt noticed. “Did you know about this, Midvalley?” he demanded as Soundwave moved past them. The purple-eyed man transformed midstride, growing taller and losing his human appearance and facial features. The dark purple and black mechanical being didn’t pause to look back as he disappeared into another part of the ship.

“I knew that he was getting information from…somewhere unconventional,” Midvalley admitted. “But I didn’t think he was getting it from a _kid._ ”

“He was as old as I am,” Maria said as she stopped a short distance away. She turned and looked back at Midvalley with a saddened, but guarded expression. “And he didn’t deserve to be treated like he was nothing more than a drone to suck information out of. Knives kept him on his death bed for years, and it was only after Joshua had given everything he had did Knives finally let him die, when he could have repaired him instead.” Maria shook her head, then turned and followed Wildfire deeper into the ship. “He was the only living family I had left from my childhood on Earth, centuries ago. And now I’m the only one left.”

Midvalley’s eyes widened at that, but he didn’t get a chance to say anything else to Maria as she disappeared into another room with Wildfire.

First Aid was just as Maria remembered her – red and white color scheme, a kind face, a relieved smile upon seeing Maria alive. That smile turned to a more shocked, sorrowful expression when she saw what remained in Maria’s arms.

“We were too late?” First Aid asked worriedly.

“Knives used him up,” Maria replied. She sniffled. “And now there’s nothing left.”

**Time Break**

There wasn’t much time for grieving. As soon as Knives got the chance, his operations were up and running, taking out city after city, removing Plants and leaving the people to die in their own panic and despair.

But Maria and her allies didn’t sit back and watch the chaos happen.

“We’re almost there!” Maria called as the shuttle moved to land outside of an area dotted with a series of ramshackle huts. “Just wait patiently until we come to a full stop; the hatch will open when we’ve landed!”

The cloaking device had worked well enough so far, keeping them shielded from Knives’ searching eyes. Even if he had noticed, Maria got the feeling that he wasn’t going to be all that interested in stopping them yet, anyway.

For now, keeping ahead of him by moving people from one location to the next was enough to keep what people they could from losing their lives.

“This much destruction is making me a bit sick,” Midvalley said. “I knew that this was his plan from the start, but…seeing it all happen strikes a minor chord with me.”

Maria snorted at the musician’s comment as the Cybertronian ship settled on the sand below them. “You think I don’t know that?”

“Kid—“

“Save it. We can talk about all this later; we’ve got people we need to get to safety.”

The hatch opened, and the people quickly streamed out of the ship without uttering so much as a word in Maria’s direction. She watched them move with a quiet expression, then started to turn and go back into the ship.

“Maria?!”

Maria paused, then looked back as two pairs of boots connected against the metal of the hatch. She blinked, the hard façade fading just a little. “Meryl? Millie? It’s good to see that you’re all right.”

“Same to you!” Millie replied with relief. She was about to run up and hug Maria, but paused when she caught sight of Midvalley standing next to her. “Uh…”

“He’s with us,” Maria said, motioning back to the ship corridor behind her. “Since we left him back where all that chaos happened, a few friends of mine picked him up. He’s been with them ever since.”

“Anything to stay out of his eye,” Midvalley muttered.

Millie blinked in surprise at that. “Your…friends? You mean the giant—“

“Mechanical beings, yes,” Maria confirmed. “They’re from Cybertron, and are Earth’s allies. You’ve got nothing to worry about from them.”

Meryl looked cautious for a moment, then yelped and stumbled back when heavy footfalls came from behind Maria.

“Are we going out for another round or do you want to stick around and catch up?” Wildfire’s voice came from above their heads. Maria didn’t need to look back to see her red and orange, flame-stylized armor.

“In a moment, Wildfire,” Maria replied without looking back and up. “Is there a reason you guys ran straight up to the ship besides seeing me or…?”

“Actually, there is,” Meryl said, quickly recovering herself. “Luida wants to see you. A-and one of the…Cybertronians? Is that right?”

Wildfire snorted, and Maria felt a shift in the air behind her. Then Wildfire’s human-looking form stepped out to stand on Maria’s other side. “Yeah, you got it right. At least you didn’t say anything accidentally degrading. The number of people who think we’re inventions from Earth, I swear to _Primus—_ “

“How did you shrink like that?” Millie asked.

“What, this?” Wildfire looked down at the red and orange leather jacket she was wearing and grinned back at Millie. “It’s called a Pretender form. I can look like a human, but I’ve still got all the weight of a full-sized Cybertronian. Joshua helped to come up with the tech centuries ago.”

“Centuries?” Meryl’s jaw dropped. “Was he – I mean, were you—“

“Yeah, I’m that old,” Maria replied. “And Wildfire is _older._ ”

Wildfire smirked and nodded in agreement, then put her hand to her ear. “Hey, Sounders? Don’t go anywhere – couple of the locals want to have a talk. Probably about what’s going on.” She stood there for a second, then nodded and lowered her hand. “Ship’s not going anywhere for a while; Jolt needs to make sure the ship isn’t going to overheat in this weather. Let’s go talk to this Luida.”

“Are you sure you’re the best for that?” Maria raised an eyebrow at her.

“Jolt’s looking over the ship, First Aid is helping him, and Sparkseer and Soundwave are on lookout to see if Knives is up to something,” Wildfire replied. She shrugged. “So let’s go.”

Meryl and Millie led Wildfire and Maria through the shelter-camp and towards a cliff wall a short distance away from the camp’s outskirts. The two of them looked around, then pushed a hidden door open and led Maria and Wildfire inside.

The inside of the cliff had been turned into a military base. People moved quickly back and forth, looking over at the four women as they made their way towards an older-looking figure standing in the center of the chaos.

“It is good to see you again,” Luida said warmly, nodding to Maria. She looked at the woman next to her and raised an eyebrow. “And you are?”

The sound that came out of Wildfire’s mouth sounded like something crackling and metal snapping. “—but my name translates into Wildfire when it’s in English.”

Luida blinked in amazement. “You’re one of the Cybertronians that Maria contacted, then?”

Wildfire grinned. “Exactly. And you must be this Luida that Maria told us about.”

“I am,” Luida replied. “It is good that we have allies such as you with us. Come.”

Luida led the group into an area away from most of the manufacturing chaos that was taking place.

“The cities in the southern hemisphere are almost all destroyed,” Meryl said as she pointed to a map sitting on the table. “In those that survive, the highest priority is being given to producing and storing food.” She looked around at the others. “But more importantly, very few cities have restored enough order even for that.”

“We’ve been getting people out of those situations, but we’re only able to carry so many in a shuttle the size ours is,” Wildfire said. “Hope you don’t mind us using this place as a drop-off point for a few hours.”

“You are more than welcome to do so here,” Luida replied. “The people who come here are sometimes willing to join us and help.”

Wildfire grinned. “Good. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“And so are the feds,” said a mustached man from across the table. “We’ve heard rumors that they’ve started a comprehensive campaign.”

“Where?” Luida asked.

“In the area from El Pazzo to Olrerad Hill.” There was a motion to the map as the areas were pointed out. “I wonder if they’ll have any effect.”

Luida’s eyes narrowed. “How is Brad progressing?”

“Brad?” Wildfire raised an eyebrow.

“One of the folks who lives in the colony ship,” Maria explained as they were led out of the room and back into the noise. “He’s got a level head, but he can also have a bit of an over-protective streak.”

“Which will be useful here,” Luida called over her shoulder back to them.

They soon reached where Brad was working on a number of small ships. Crews were running all over them, calling to each other as they checked on how they were holding together.

“It’s taken us three months, but I think we’re ready,” Brad said when asked about what he was up to. “We outfitted the smallest ships we have with the strongest equipment. But we’ve probably reached our limit if you count the number of cold sleep capsules we have.”

Wildfire looked the ships over and nodded. “Maybe we should get Jolt in here and see if he can help you out with that. He knows tech better than I would.”

Brad gave her a strange look.

“This is Wildfire, one of Maria’s allies from the world she contacted,” Luida explained. “They’re the ones who have been bringing people here from the destroyed towns.”

Brad’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Well, that’s interesting.” He grinned. “Yeah, if your friend wants to come in here and give us some help, we could definitely use it.”

Wildfire gave him a thumbs-up and grinned. “You got it. What’s your plan?”

“Well, for now the plan is to get these babies up in the stratosphere and attack Knives’ ark that way.” Brad looked up at the ships, grin fading. “I don’t know how well a surprise attack like that would work, though. We’ll just have to do our best and hope we can hit them blind and run.”

“You’re going to fight?” Meryl asked, sounding uneasy.

“What’s the problem?” Brad looked down at her curiously. “We can’t just sit by and do nothing.”

“Actually, it would help if he arrived in time,” Luida commented. “But considering that we haven’t seen him for several months, we can only assume that he’s still being held captive by his own brother.” Luida looked over at Maria. “Unless that intel is incorrect.”

Maria shook her head. “As far as I know, he’s still trapped up there.”

“Luida, Maria, I….”

Maria and Luida looked over at Meryl as Wildfire raised an eyebrow.

“I heard the story of Vash’s past,” Meryl said. “At the Dragon’s Nest. He…he did something, with an ability, and…I saw what he did to July. What happened that caused him to destroy it.”

Maria’s expression became more grim at that.

“Destroy it?” Wildfire repeated. She looked over at Maria. “Was this—“

“It wasn’t on purpose; I was shown it, too.” Maria shook her head.

“But still, if that’s true, then this could get to be dangerous,” someone near them said. “How much can we trust him? Could all this turn into another July?”

“It had been decided,” Luida said shortly. “I’m not going to hear any more about it.”

The group looked over in her direction.

“The mysterious event that happened during the battle with Knives in the past was more than I could handle,” Luida said. “Forty men chased him into a building, and none came out.”

“They…died?” Meryl asked hesitantly.

“No. They disappeared. When it was over, Knives quietly walked out, but there was no trace of the forty inside the building.”

Maria’s expression hardened, Wildfire gaining a similar expression.

“He must be altering space,” Wildfire commented. She looked at Maria with a pointed expression. “Think he opened up a hole and dropped them in it?”

“Could be possible; his kind does come from the in-between between dimensions,” Maria commented. “He could have sent them there to die by cutting a hole open.”

“Between dimensions?” someone repeated.

Maria shook her head. “I’m not going to explain that part of the Plants just yet.”

“We weren’t aware of such things at the time,” Luida said, nodding to Maria. “And faced with such power, we weren’t sure if we would be able to ever stand a chance against him. And that is when Vash stepped up and promised that he would take care of Knives.” She looked around at the others gathered around. “This time, imprisoned or not, he’s probably fighting on his own. Whether we trust him or not, we are limited in what we can do ourselves. But in order to survive, we are going to do everything we can.”

The men standing nearby nodded and scattered towards the ships, leaving Maria, Millie, Wildfire, and Meryl standing with Luida, who stood with her back to them.

Meryl took a step forward. “Luida.”

“…I’m sorry. I…was thinking for a second.” Luida straightened herself. “If something like July happens again, it might stop Knives, but….” She sighed. “I’m a terrible woman. Nothing but a coward.”

Maria and Wildfire exchanged knowing looks.

Meryl spoke up again. “Luida, I know how you feel.”

“There’s no shame in feeling cowardice,” Wildfire spoke up. “Do what you can, even if that places you far from the action.” She cracked her knuckles. “I’m getting Jolt and Soundwave. See what they can do to help.” She turned and started out towards the hot sun. “Maria, you gonna get involved in this hit and run?”

“I might,” Maria replied. “But I’m going to speak with the Plants hidden here, first. See what my course of action could be from their perspective. Knives is taking Plants – for what reason, I’m not sure yet myself. Maybe they would be willing to offer some answers.”

“Sounds good, kid. Good luck.”


	21. Back Together

Maria did end up going with Brad and his little fleet of ships, but she didn’t ride in one.

 _::How can you be holding on there?!::_ Brad demanded from the cockpit.

Maria gave a short laugh at his surprise. “Magnetic soles in my boots! I had them properly upgraded when I switched out the jet shoes a long time ago. Joshua did a pretty good job in keeping us up to date with that sort of thing – I really doubt that anyone could have considered us obsolete.”

Brad, who was definitely aware of Maria’s state as a living being in a mechanical shell, grumbled something that Maria didn’t quite catch. That was fine, though; she wasn’t focusing much on their conversation anyway.

Ahead of them was Knives’ “ark.” The hulking piece of a colony ship that looked like a giant rectangle and, in Maria’s opinion, had no business floating around in the sky like the hulking piece of junk it was.

Even if it had giant, Plant-like wings growing out from the sides. Those _definitely_ had no business there.

Her eyes narrowed as she crouched closer to the surface of the pod that Brad was manning. “Let’s do this.”

 _::Kid, whatever it is that you’re going to do, you’d better do it now!::_ Brad yelled. _::Hit and run, let’s go!::_

Maria was already starting to build up heat and fire in her core, being careful to not melt into Brad’s ship and making it difficult to fly as a result. As she raised her arms up in front of her, down on one knee as she as, flames started to lick at her arms – first red, then white hot as the air around her blurred like a mirage.

“White Flare, 25 percent!” Maria barked. “Fire Spark!”

The resulting blast of flames looked larger than it normally did – instead of being just the size of her head, it was the size of her entire upper body.

And there was enough strength in it to get sent flying into the side of the boosters at the back of the ark and set off an explosion of heat and light at the same time that a fired missile did. The ark listed to one side, but it didn’t start to collapse to the ground.

Maria cracked her knuckles. “That should slow him down for a while.” She looked over at the caravan of soldiers that was ahead of the ark, frowning. It looked like Knives had hit them with something just before they had gotten there.

 _::Was that a direct hit??::_ one of the other pod pilots asked over the comms. At least the short-distance communications worked.

“It wasn’t quite a direct hit,” Maria called back. “But we’ve definitely done some damage to that monstrosity.”

 _::Hopefully the Plants on that thing understand what it is we’re doing_ :: Brad said. _::Man, do I feel sorry for hurting them, though--::_

Another explosion went off inside the ship, causing it to list to the side even further and for something to fall out the bottom.

_::What’s that? It looks like someone just fell out of the ship!::_

Maria’s head lifted up a little at that, and she focused on the figures that were falling towards the sandy ground in the distance. “That’s – I’m going down there.”

 _::Why?::_ Brad demanded.

“That could be Vash and Nicholas, that’s why!” Maria pulled herself off Brad’s ship and started plummeting towards the ground, leaving the ark behind as it struggled to regain its balance in the air.

Her hoverboard disconnected from her back; Maria reached out and grabbed it, pulling it under her before taking off towards the ground and the cross that was sticking up out of the sand.

Nicholas’ weapon, and it clearly looked like it needed repairs.

There were footprints, too, and they were leading towards what looked like an outcropping of stone in the distance. They were also quickly disappearing in the swirling, kicked-up sand from the fight up in the air.

A crackling noise hit her ear, followed by a familiar voice. _::I dunno if ya can hear me but – I just got Vash out. We’ll keep an eye out for you guys::_

Maria didn’t pause. She kept moving forward instead, at the quick pace that her hoverboard allowed, kicking up sand in all directions.

She was going to find those two as if her life depended on it.

**Time Break**

Finding the boys under the outcropping was easy.

Taking in the fact that she’d stumbled in and caught sight of Nicholas passed out in a pool of his own blood, with Vash looking no better next to him?

Maria landed on the ground out in the open and stepped into their shelter, causing Vash to look up at her in surprise.

“Maria—“

“Save your strength,” Maria replied briskly. She reached behind her back and pulled out a backpack, red and worn like it had seen far better days and a lot of travel. Unzipping the largest pocket, she pulled out bandages and moved to kneel next to Nicholas, ready to bind up wounds he might have had.

She blinked in surprise when she found that there wasn’t anything visible that matched any sort of wound – or the amount of blood the ground had absorbed. “What the…a metahuman? In my dimension?” She picked up the crushed device that was lying in Nicholas’ open hand – the device that Jolt had given him months ago.

“Metahuman?” Vash repeated weakly.

Maria tossed him a blue, round fruit that didn’t look like it belonged anywhere on the desert planet. He barely managed to catch it with his one hand. “A human with abilities that aren’t normally gifted to them. Increased healing, strange abilities – these sorts of gifts are _rare,_ and only when something else gets involved.”

Vash cleared his throat nervously. “Um…something else got involved. I-I don’t think Wolfwood would want me to say anything else about it.”

Maria paused to consider that, then nodded shortly. “All right, I’ll leave him alone. But you’d better eat that Oran Berry – it’ll give you some of your strength back.” She could hear one of Brad’s ships coming up behind her and landing. “And at least you have other choices on where you can _sleep._ You’ve missed a lot in the last – what, seven, eight months? I’ll make sure to fill you in when you’ve regained some of your strength.”

Vash nodded wordlessly in response. He looked at the fruit in his hand cautiously, then took a bite of it as Brad and a couple others approached. His eyes widened. “What—“

“That,” Maria said with a grin, “is something from another dimension. Keep eating it; you’ll regain your strength faster that way.”

Vash didn’t need to be told twice; the fruit was gone in seconds, and he was licking his fingers of the juices by the time that Brad had gotten under the outcropping.

“You have no idea how much of a heart-attack you’ve given Luida,” Brad said in a somewhat stern voice. “And you two definitely need medical attention.”

Vash smiled weakly. “It’s good to see you, too.”

**Time Break**

Luida made sure that Vash and Nicholas were looked after, wrapped in blankets, and given a meal before they had to interact with anyone in the abandoned town near the base. And even then, only Brad, Maria, and Wildfire were really allowed to get close, besides a few select others.

Mostly because Vash and Nicholas ended up informing them about how exactly they’d managed to get off Knives’ ship, on top of some vague references to what was happening to Vash while he had been trapped up there.

The tin can in Maria’s hand that she had been drinking from was crushed in a sudden move. “I thought there was something off about Bluesummers when we saw him at the Dragon’s Nest. He’s not gonna do so well with trying to control _me,_ that’s a certainty.”

Nicholas snorted. “What makes you say that?”

“As far as he knows, he needs an organic mind and body to be able to manipulate a person physically, right?” Maria shot him a grin that was more feral teeth than friendly. “I don’t _have_ an organic mind and body, even if I might choose to look like I do. He’s gonna be in for a nasty surprise next time we meet.” She was about to take a swig of her drink from the can, but then frowned when she saw that the liquid was spilling out between her fingers instead. “At any rate, it’ll help me get some of this anger out over what happened to Joshua.” She tossed the crushed can aside.

Vash stiffened a little. “Wh-what do you mean?”

Maria paused at the question, her shoulders stiffening a little. Wildfire, who was leaning against a wall near Maria, looked extremely grim.

“Your brother didn’t see Joshua as a sentient being,” Wildfire said. “Judging by the fact that his armor had been torn open and his core exposed. Jolt and First Aid looked him over after we brought him back to the shuttle, and there was proof of purposeful damage meant to keep Joshua from doing things Knives might not have wanted him to do.”

Vash swallowed.

“He died seconds after we got to him,” Maria said with an emotionlessness tone to her voice. She looked at Vash and Nicholas. “His core – his very soul – had been damaged to the point that he was unable to sustain his connection with his body any longer, and it sped off to the AllSpark.” She sighed and shook her head. “I would like to ask Knives what he was thinking, using the man that your kind sees as their friend and practically adopted eccentric _uncle_ like that.”

“Uncle…?” Brad repeated in confusion. He blinked a couple times, then shook his head. “Know what, I’m not gonna ask. We’ve got other things to think about.” He leaned forward in the chair he was sitting in. “Our recent attack has clearly slowed the ark’s invasion. We could see the stripped Plants stuck to the side of it shine and stop working.”

Vash’s eyes narrowed in thought. “I think Knives has been jolted by the collected consciousness of the entities he’s combined. When I was near him, it was almost like his sense of self was being swallowed by the rest.”

Maria’s eyes narrowed slightly at that. “You mean that he’s turning into a hive mind of some kind? More than Plants are normally?”

“…something like that. Plants normally _are_ connected by nature, but the two of us aren’t hooked into the network like the rest of them.” Vash adjusted the blanket around him. “Because we’re independent – we can move outside of the bulbs and interact with this dimension freely – we don’t feel that connection as much. I don’t know how much time Knives spent talking to our sisters, but there’s no way he’s surviving being connected as he is right now.”

“Where _is_ Knives now?” Nicholas spoke up. He’d taken over an entire couch and was lying across it, wrapped up in his blankets.

“His course is mostly a straight line at this point,” Jolt spoke up grimly. “He has passed Carcassas and is headed towards East December.”

Vash’s expression hardened at that.

Nicholas pulled his head under the blankets. “Is that so?”

“There are a lot of people trying to stay ahead of him too,” Wildfire spoke up grimly. “They’re abandoning cities and practically crowding together like sardines. We’ve been doing what we can to pick up stragglers and survivors and making sure they’re not killed, but the shuttle can only be in so many places at once. And even if we were to help the caravans move, our alternate modes aren’t built for travel across deserts.” She made a face. “The Sea of Rust is bad enough, but an entire _planet_ of that? No way are we going to do very well here for long.”

Maria nodded in agreement.

“There’s something else too, though,” Brad spoke up. “And I don’t think that you two know about it yet.”

Maria and Wildfire blinked, then exchanged looks.

“According to our most recent analysis, the fleet from Earth may arrive earlier than planned.”

Nicholas threw the blanket back abruptly as Vash leaned forward.

“Really?!” Vash said in surprise.

Brad nodded as Maria and Wildfire raised eyebrows.

“This isn’t entirely good news,” Brad pointed out. “It means we’ve got less time to work with. We have to stop Knives before the ships arrive.”

“Because then they’ll get caught in the crossfire too,” Maria said, nodding.

“There’s something else here, too, isn’t there?” Wildfire looked over at Jolt. “The humans are still using Plants on Earth, too.”

Jolt nodded in response. “They are, yes. They’re probably using them on their ships in order to reach here quickly.” He looked over at Vash. “You’ve been near him for the last several months. Considering what he’s done, would he…”

Vash nodded in response to the blond-and-blue-haired figure. “Knives will be able to do it. His reach and the Plants he’s absorbed into himself are responsive enough to reach beyond the stratosphere and conduct intricate operations. If he can send them far enough without worrying about the connection degrading...” He sighed. “All he’ll need to do is absorb them one by one.”

Brad slammed his hands down on the coffee table. “Damnit! That must have been his plan all along!”

“He’s planning on taking out our hope for survival…and then likely using the ships from Earth to construct himself a way to get _to_ Earth,” Maria said, eyes narrowing. “We can’t let that happen.”

“No, we can’t,” Wildfire agreed. “Which means that we’re going to have to come up with something that’ll—“

Shouting started going off outside of the room they were sequestered in, causing them to turn their gaze towards the shuttered window.

“What the hell…?” Brad pulled himself to his feet and moved over to the door and pulled it open. “What the hell’s going on out here, huh?” He stepped out.

Maria was about to follow after him when she saw Vash rising to his feet. She went over and offered him a shoulder to lean on before making their way towards the door.

Upon catching sight of the familiar figure who was approaching, Vash’s cautious expression quickly switched to relief. “Marlon!”

“Hey!” Marlon grinned. “You really are alive, you vagabond!”

“I was gonna say the same thing about you!” Vash replied with a wide grin. “How have you been?!”

“Well, everyone in town had finally left,” Marlon said with a shrug. “I set myself down to accept my fate with one last supper, when I was visited by a rude guest. That guest had the nerve to ask me to make one more gun. I told them not to be foolish. The world being in the state it’s in, he was _surely_ dead. But the guest wouldn’t listen.” He paused, looking Vash over. “And it appears the woman was right. Take it.”

He tossed a package at Vash, who was barely able to catch it in one hand. His eyes went wide at the shape of it as Marlon started walking off.

“Marlon – that woman!” Vash called after him. “It wasn’t—“

“Keep it up,” Marlon called back. “If you survive, I’ll pay my respects.”

“What about Nicholas’ burden?” Maria called as Marlon started to walk past the empty house they’d taken up momentary residence in.

“The hell you callin’ my Punisher?” Nicholas called back from where he was crouched in front of the building.

“I’m calling it what I see it as,” Maria replied without pause. “A burden.”

“And a burden it is,” Marlon looked over the broken outer shell of the long end of the cross, which had been bent in pieces from Nicholas’ and Vash’s fall from the ark. “Well, I’ll see what I can do.”

Nicholas eyed him suspiciously.

“It’s okay, Wolfwood,” Vash called over. “Just give him two days; it’ll be back to normal by then.”

Nicholas didn’t look too happy about that, but he grunted and muttered something.

Marlon nodded and took the weapon, slinging it over his shoulder with a grunt. “Man, this is a real piece of work! I’ll do my best to make sure that it’s in good shape again, though – count on that!”

Maria smirked and shook her head a little as the man dragged the gun off. “I guess we’re gonna be here for a couple days, aren’t we?”

Vash looked at Maria curiously. “We?”

“Soundwave, Sparkseer, and First Aid can handle shuttling people out of danger zones for now,” Wildfire said. “Unless you want me to call them here so that we can start strategizing more quickly.”

“You’re really willing to put yourselves in the line of fire like that?” Vash asked in surprise. “This isn’t—“

“This became our fight as soon as Maria got involved,” Wildfire replied with a grin. “Trust me, this kid has got a lot of pull on Cybertron, and when her message came through we knew we had to do something.”

Vash blinked in surprise, and he looked over at Maria.

Maria shrugged one shoulder. “I may have been born on Earth, but I have a second home on Cybertron with Wildfire. The Cybertronians who have seen the two of us together don’t know about our history unless they were involved in their own war centuries ago.”

“So when the message got through, Sounders made sure that Ultra Magnus heard about it, and that got us moving,” Wildfire said with a smirk. “So you’ve got us at your back, and if anything else goes wrong Jolt over there can bring in back-up if we need it.”

“That’s the idea, yes,” Jolt confirmed.

Vash looked floored by this. “I…thank you.”

Wildfire chuckled and ruffled Vash’s fallen-flat hair. “We’ve got a long ways to go; don’t thank us yet. This war is long from over.”

Jolt nodded in agreement. “I’m drawing up plans for another prosthetic for you so that I can put it together and attach it back at the base as soon as possible. Is there anything you’d want added to it? A stun charge or—“

“Stun charge?” Vash looked at Jolt with an expression of surprise. “You can do that?”

Jolt held up one hand; bright blue sparks flew from his fingers. “Joshua and I have and had the same ability; the two of us figured out how to recreate it artificially. It may take some time to get yourself acclimated to that power, but it should prove useful.”

Vash stared at Jolt for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

“In the meantime, you should get back in there and sleep,” Brad said, pointedly looking between Nicholas and Vash. “We’ll get moving in a couple days to start thinking about what we’re doing next.”

Vash nodded in agreement, becoming serious again as Nicholas flicked his cigarette away from him. He looked moody and grim – unusually so.

Maria decided that she’d ask him about what was bothering him later.


	22. Follow That Preacher!

The next morning, Maria woke up with a gasp, one hand going to the side of her head as she winced and drew back from the pair of worried hands that came towards her.

Wildfire pulled her hands back, frowning, as Maria ran her hand over her forehead and gritted her teeth a little. “What now?”

“Nicholas is going to do something idiotic and stupid and _die_ if we don’t catch up to him,” Maria said shortly.

Vash sat straight up in the chair he had dozed off in, locking his gaze on Maria with raised eyebrows and a surprised expression. “What led you to that conclusion?”

“Goddamn vision hit me again.” Maria dropped her hand from her forehead. “I don’t know _why_ it only hit me _now_ and not before so that I could have rescued _Joshua.”_ She sighed irritably and pushed herself out of the chair she had settled into. “Guess the multiverse figured I should have seen that one coming.” She looked around, then frowned. “Where is Nicholas?”

“He slipped out this morning and took his gun from Marlon,” Jolt said as he entered the room. “Said enough repairs had been done that he could handle the rest. Why?”

“Primus-damnit!” Maria growled under her breath and ran her fingers through her hair in an annoyed fashion.

“You _did_ say we had to catch up with him,” Wildfire pointed out. “Guess you knew he was gone before you _knew_ he was gone.”

Maria shot her friend a sour look.

“Where is he?” Vash asked. The expression on his face had gone grim.

“I only know where he might end up _dying,_ not where he is right at this moment,” Maria replied, irritated and frowning. She sighed and shook her head. “It was at some orphanage – or the remains of one, I think. Nicholas was standing in a pool of blood that belonged to an old man with a wheelchair, but he’d stopped moving. I don’t know if the blood was his, the old man’s, or both.”

“Old man…” Vash frowned, leaning back in his chair in thought. His expression became grimly serious. “How quickly can we get to December?”

“The city?” Wildfire tilted her head in thought at the question. “Not long. We just have to get to the shuttle, but that will take down time for—“

“I mean just us.”

Wildfire blinked at that. “ _Just_ us? That…” She gained an annoyed expression. “I’m going to have to transform and _carry_ you two and get sand in my gears, aren’t I?”

“Deal with it,” Maria said. “How do you think _I’ve_ felt running around as I have been?”

Wildfire’s expression shifted at that.

“Carry?” Vash repeated. “Are you referring to how you actually look like or—“

“Cybertronians transform into vehicle forms,” Wildfire said. She waved off Vash’s stare. “I’ll just be your car for a few days after Jolt finishes your arm and whatever else it is he’s up to.”

Vash’s eyes widened at that.

Brad stuck his head into the room. “Oh, you’re already up. Good; we’re about to head back to base.” He blinked when he saw the looks on their faces. “Did I miss something?”

“Only Nicholas leaving on his own and us thinking about going after him,” Maria replied.

Brad snorted. “Let him do what he wants; I honestly don’t care. Come on.” He ducked back out of the empty house.

As soon as they were back in the base, Jolt disappeared into the shuttle to start work on the plans he and Vash had discussed for his arm. Maria and Wildfire were promptly locked out to not be able to disturb them.

Wildfire looked over at Maria and raised an eyebrow. “So, what do you want to do?”

“I’ve got too much energy to sit around,” Maria replied casually. She looked at Wildfire with a gleam in her eye as the air around her shimmered like a mirage. “Feel like sparring?”

**Time Break**

The wide expanse of thick glass that was located a few miles out from the base reflected the suns with such an intensity that no one was able to look in its direction without fear of going blind. It got Maria and Wildfire a few glares for it, but the two of them didn’t give any reactions to the stares.

“Did you really have to do that again?” Jolt asked with a shake of his head.

“Again?” Vash looked up from where he was inspecting his new mechanical arm. It looked like his last one, but there was a shine to the metal that clearly said it was brand new. “What do you mean?”

“Those two have a habit of leaving a mark wherever they’ve sparred,” Jolt explained. “On Cybertron, we have a designated area for Cybertronians with special abilities to use them in combat, and those two have melted the arena so much that it is nearly impossible to tell whether or not the welding jobs that keep the place together were also caused by the two of them being in the area.” He shook his head. “It made me wonder what could happen if Joshua and I unleased our electrical abilities in the same place in that manner, but we never saw a reason to. He wasn’t hotheaded like she is.”

Vash flexed the mechanical fingers. “I know. I was on the flagship – I’d talk to him, sometimes. I think Knives might have too, but…if he treated him like that, then I don’t know if he remembers as well as I do.” There was a flicker of something else in his eyes at his own words, and he shook his head. “So, I’m good to go, Doc?”

Jolt shook his head. “I’m not the doc, Ratchet is.” He looked Vash up and down, paying attention especially to the mechanical arm. “Well, the metal doesn’t seem to be reacting badly to you, and the nerves are working as they should be. I showed you how to activate the weapons I installed too, so other than testing those out later you should be good to go. As far as I’m concerned, you’re ready to take on whatever it is that Maria’s been antsy about the last few days.”

Vash nodded, then reached over and grabbed the bundle of material that was sitting on the bed next to him. He pulled the shirt over his head, then started with the geranium red coat, also brand-new as he had lost his last one.

“Whatever it is that Maria’s seen, either it’s something that’s meant to happen or something that wasn’t.”

Vash looked at Jolt in surprise as he finished with his coat. “What do you—“

“When she gets antsy like this, from what I remember it’s usually because something’s about to happen,” Jolt explained. He gave a sideways smile. “And she’s not always been alone when she’s traveled to alternate dimensions. I’ve been with her enough times to know when a vision of the future is bothering her enough that she needs to let off some steam.”

Vash’s eyebrows rose at that, and then he nodded. “She mentioned the possibility of Wolfwood dying if we didn’t get to him in time.”

“Ah. Sounds like she’s gotten pretty attached to him, then.” Jolt nodded. “You’d better get going. I doubt she wants to be kept waiting for very long.”

Vash nodded. “I don’t want to keep this from happening any longer either. We’ll get to him and come back as quickly as we can to help stop Knives, but in the meantime can you—“

“We’ll keep him busy. Just get going, you.” Jolt’s eyes sparked with a serious humor that caused the stress in Vash’s shoulders to relax a little – but only slightly.

Maria and Wildfire – back in her giant, Cybertronian form -- were waiting outside the base when Vash finally appeared, coat flapping in the wind coming in from the desert.

“Looks like there was a sandstorm last night,” Maria commented. “Polished the glass to a smooth shine; I bet people could find a way to use it for windows in the future. Or an ice rink.”

“We can think about that later,” Wildfire said, crouched next to the cliffside the base was hiding in. She looked over at Vash. “Ready to go?”

Vash nodded. “How does this—“

Wildfire smirked, and then her body started shifting. Vash’s eyes widened as Wildfire’s entire mechanical form changed shape to a roofed vehicle of some kind that was sleek and curved, not like the trucks and open jeeps that most people used to get from one place to another.

“Still that old model?” Maria asked with a grin.

“I happen to _like_ this look, you.” Wildfire revved the engine in an angry, annoyed fashion, her voice not really seeming to come from anywhere specific. “Get in – both of you. And since Vash knows where we’re going I want him in shotgun position.”

Two of the four doors popped open, revealing the front seat next to the steering wheel and the back row of seats.

“You heard her.” Maria looked at Vash before sliding into the back of Wildfire’s vehicle mode. Vash followed a moment later, but it took him a moment to get comfortable on the strange fabric of the seats.

“Feels like I’m sitting in an armchair,” Vash commented in surprise as the door closed behind him on its own.

“That’s how Earth cars used to be.” Wildfire’s voice came from the dashboard. “So, which way did Nicholas go?”

“He’s heading to December, which is…” Vash took a moment, looking around. “It’s in Knives’ path.”

“Got it. Make sure I’m going in the right direction, will you?”

Wildfire’s wheels spun, and she took off with a sudden burst of speed that caused Vash to let out a yelp of surprise as he was suddenly pushed back against his seat by the force of the move.

Wildfire laughed as Vash got used to the speed they were going. “If you think I’m fast, you haven’t met the Cybertronians from Velocitron! They could beat me at a race any day of the week!”

Maria smirked in the back seat. “Didn’t Knock Out say that he was from there?”

“He likes to _think_ he is, but I can tell you he isn’t. He can want to live there all he likes but that doesn’t change the fact that he was on Cybertron when the war went off.”

“War? Are you at—“

“We were,” Wildfire corrected Vash. “Maria got herself involved at the tail end of it when you were, what, seventeen, kid?”

“Seventeen and a half, but yeah.” Maria nodded. “I wasn’t involved at the front lines, though. Not like you were when you finally caught up.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Wildfire muttered. She sounded a little annoyed.

“Is your planet okay?” Vash asked. “How many—“

“We’re fine, and while the casualties were pretty high and we don’t really have very many new Cybertronians coming up from the Well of AllSparks, we’re doing all right. The Autobots and Decepticons are just political parties now, which…I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Well, they didn’t want to merge back together after everything that’s happened,” Maria pointed out.

“Well, yeah, I guess. At least those two are starting to die out a bit and we’re getting to a place that’s a little bit better.” Wildfire hissed. “Damn this sand! I can feel it starting to work into my gears! First Aid is going to have a field day getting all of this out.”

“…at least you’re built for the heat?” Vash asked.

Wildfire went silent at that, the steering wheel turning this way and that on its own in order to make sure to stay going in the right direction despite the sand dunes they were bouncing over. “Yeah, I guess there’s that – which reminds me!”

Cold air started flowing into the cabin, catching Vash off guard as Maria let out a sigh of relief in the back.

“ _Air conditioning,”_ Maria said, leaning back in her seat. “Thank Primus for that.”

“Don’t thank _Primus_ – thank me!” Wildfire said indignantly. “I’m the one who’s pushing cold air into your face!”

Vash looked between the dashboard and the relaxing Maria in the back with a curious expression. If Maria noticed his gaze, she didn’t give any sign, instead closing her eyes and sighing happily as the cool air washed over the inside of the cabin.

Vash smirked a little and turned to look towards the desert horizon ahead of them, his expression becoming much more grim and determined moments later. Whatever it was that Maria had seen in that vision, they had to make sure that they got there in time to keep Wolfwood alive.

He wasn’t about to let another friend die before this ended.


	23. Plot Divergence

They got to the eastern edge of December some time later and nearly drove head-first into a caravan.

Wildfire swore loudly as her Pretender, human form suddenly flickered into the driver’s seat of the vehicle, mimicking the movements of a driver as the wheel turned and her vehicle form swerved out of the way of a panicking bird steed. “Slagging turkeys! And just as dumb as the Earth ones!”

A few people shouted at them as they passed, sending glares at Wildfire as she kicked up sand and startled a few more tomas before they reached the other side of the caravan – and the bridge that crossed over the gorge ahead of them.

A few men dressed in uniforms that looked rather official moved in front of them, holding up hands to signal that they needed to halt.

Wildfire slowed the car to a crawl. “Well then.” The window was lowered, and she stuck her head out. “What seems to be the problem, officers?”

“We’re in the process of evacuating December,” one of the men replied. “The city’s off-limits. We can’t let you go any further.”

Wildfire looked at Vash and raised an eyebrow.

“Ask him about an orphanage,” Vash said.

Wildfire considered the question, then nodded and looked over at the officer. “Is there an orphanage near this part of December?”

“Orphanage? Well, yes, but as far as we know it’s been cleared out.”

 _“No,_ it hasn’t,” Maria muttered in the backseat, suddenly looking serious.

Vash looked back as Wildfire kept talking to the officer.

“And did a man come through here earlier?” Wildfire asked. “Big, bound-up cross, out-of-place good-looking suit?”

The officers looked at each other.

“…why do you want to know?” one asked carefully.

“He’s going to get himself into trouble if we don’t get to him and save his aft before he jumps off a cliff or something,” Wildfire replied casually. “So, like it or not, I’m gonna have to go over this bridge to get to him. See ya!”

Wildfire’s hologram suddenly disappeared as the window rolled up, startling the officers. Before they could do anything, there was a loud squeal of tires as Wildfire took off across the bridge and through a blown-open gate.

Maria could hear faint shouting behind them as they blew into the city streets.

“Well, I guess that answers that,” Wildfire said. “We can’t be all that far behind him.”

Vash was leaning against the passenger’s side window, trying to look through it as best we can. “Stop this – cold air thing. It’s going to be unbearable when we get back out there.”

“Sure. You see it too?”

“See what?” Maria leaned forward in the back seat, frowning. Her eyebrows rose for a moment before her eyes narrowed.

There was a plume of smoke that was dissipating on the horizon.

“Wolfwood,” Vash muttered.

“Hang on.”

The streets of December – while abandoned – weren’t necessarily clear. Crates and overturned carts sat outside some of the buildings; belongings that had to be left behind were scattered on the front stoops of some homes.

Wildfire barreled over them without so much as thinking about slowing down.

“Are Cybertronians more hardy than regular vehicles?” Vash asked as they practically jumped the remains of a flattened cart.

“Most of us!” Wildfire replied over the noise of crunching wood. “Kaonites are the toughest because we worked in mines and smelting factories before the war. _I_ was a gladiator.”

There was a tone of pride in Wildfire’s voice at that.

“A gladiator?” Vash repeated. “They did things like that?”

“Cybertron was a caste planet before the war,” Maria explained. “Kaon was pretty low on that scale, and when they didn’t want to die down in the mines, they found something else to do.” She shrugged. “It was _technically_ illegal, but the Council apparently turned a blind eye to it. Kept the lower classes complacent until Megatron came along and formed the Decepticons.”

“ _Then_ we had our war, but that was something else,” Wildfire added.

Maria nodded in agreement as they broke out of the buildings and careened across the sands again towards a building in the distance. It looked like there were figures standing in front of it – and standing _over_ another figure in particular.

“You two ready for this?” Wildfire asked.

“Check to see if there are any civilians in the building,” Vash replied. “They probably have hostages. His friends.”

“Friends?” Maria repeated.

“Yeah. Wolfwood is supposed to be seventeen.”

Maria gave him a sharp look as Wildfire screeched to a halt. _“Seventeen?!_ But he looks—“

“Increased metabolism.” Vash’s eyes narrowed. “You can thank the Eye of Michael for that.”

Maria made a noise that sounded like a machine grating two pieces together the wrong way.

“You said it,” Wildfire agreed. “Maria, you’ve got some anger to let out – go distract them. We’ll take care of any possible hostages.”

Maria was out of the back door before Wildfire could finish speaking, and she leapt onto her hoverboard before she lunged for the figures at high speed as Nicholas’ scream of pain rent the air.

“HEY!” Maria roared as another wave of sand was kicked into the air from Wildfire’s rear tires. Fire roared across her arms, then almost completely overtook her body before retreating back to her arms, revealing her armor. “You won’t be taking him!”

The two figures looked up at her shout, one of them moving into a crouch as Wildfire careened around to the orphanage.

Then the figure who wasn’t holding a cross to Nicholas’ chest lunged for Maria himself. Maria recognized him as he drew close – he had been one of the two figures that Nicholas had nearly gotten into a fight with several months ago, when she had been looking for Joshua. He was different this time – no skull mask, revealing a strange tattoo, and an extra mechanical arm attached to his back, allowing him to wield three guns rather than two.

Maria raised her Buster and fired a Stun shot, but the attack was avoided with ease as the figure kept coming towards her.

Then the bullets started.

Maria reacted by going high first, pulling back as she threw her left hand in front of her to generate a shield of flames. The fire went from red-orange to white very quickly under the bright dual suns, but Maria’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

The bullets promptly exploded against the fire shield as they melted, blowing Maria back slightly, but when the second salvo came up she was ready for them and pushed the shield forward and down far enough that she wasn’t affected.

Maria aimed again, and came down and forward towards the crazed-looking figure as Wildfire threw up a cloud of dust in front of the orphanage with her tires. Maria was far enough up and back that she couldn’t see or hear clearly what was going on, but she wasn’t focused on them.

She was focused on the crazed-looking gunman who was trying to prove himself a threat.

“I think Wolfwood still has a part to play in this dimension, and whether you like it or not I’m here to make sure he gets out of this alive!” Maria barked down at the three-armed man as he aimed again at her.

That actually caused him to pause for a second before he started shooting again. But Maria was still prepared with her shield of melting flames in front of her, keeping the bullets back and continuing to play defensive.

She was going to need an opening to catch him off-guard if she was going to be able to hit him.

Then there came the sound of other gunshots and the _very loud noise_ of metal shifting.

Maria turned her head sharply as her opponent glanced over in the direction the sound came from, and she grinned widely.

“You aren’t turning these kids into pincushions,” Wildfire said, looking down at the other man who had been fighting against Nicholas. The now full-sized Cybertronian had an arm in front of a group of what looked like a bunch of kids and a woman, with Vash standing in front of them and right behind Wildfire’s armored arm.

“What the hell kind of—“

Maria lunged forward, once again shooting a Stun Shot at the figure and nearly hitting his mechanical arm. He noticed the shot coming and leapt to the side just in time, however.

“Eyes on me,” Maria said with a serious tone to her voice. “I don’t know if you haven’t noticed, but _I’m_ your opponent right now. I am World Jumper Maria Carlsdale, called Flare-Up and Fire Storm. What are you called?”

The man’s crazed gaze moved back to Maria, and now that she was closer she could see the tattoo that worked its way across his face – a tattoo that _had_ been hidden under a skull-like mask before.

This was one of the figures who had been thinking about attacking Nicholas those months before.

“I am Razlo, the Triplefang!” the crazed gaze was calculating as it focused on her. “And while you’ve been an interesting opponent so far, you’ve only been playing the defensive. That’s not—“

“It’s because I don’t want to _kill_ you, you idiot!” Maria snapped back. “My powers are boosted double _at least_ on this planet! If I don’t hold back, everything near me is going to be _melted!_ _Including_ you! Primus, is everyone here so trigger happy that they don’t _think_ about _not_ dying on a daily basis?!”

Razlo honestly looked surprised at that. “What—“

Maria took the opportunity to shoot another Stun Shot as the sound of explosions went off; the other man was shooting at Wildfire’s armored form as she raised the arm that wasn’t protecting the kids. The shot barely missed as Razlo turned his attention back to her with a glare.

“I am here to keep Wolfwood alive,” Maria continued. “I don’t like seeing people die, and I’m not about to see him die, fate be damned! And the same goes for you.” She pointed at Razlo with her cannon arm. “Do _not_ think that I don’t see the child suffering inside you.”

Razlo blinked in confusion for a moment, then threw back his head and let out a loud, crazed laugh. “Do you really think I’m suffering?! The kind of people that the Eye of Michael are – they _freed_ me! I can do as I please with my life in a way that I couldn’t before!”

“Are you sure about that?”

Razlo blinked, and in the blink of an eye there was a dome of fire surrounding the two of them, making the rest of the world appear translucent and red-orange tinted. Wildfire was carefully scooping the humans up in her arms as Wolfwood pulled himself to his feet. There were dents in her armor, but she didn’t look the least bit slowed down.

“Vash told me about the Eye of Michael from what Wolfwood told him,” Maria said. “Compared to me even _with_ your appearance changed, you are _still_ a child who doesn’t know what the rest of the world is like. What would your past self say to all of this? What would _he_ think of the fact that you’ve joined a crazy killing _cult?”_

A thunderclap of sound echoed across the desert sand. A few kids screamed.

“I wanted to get the kids inside and away from this mess!” Vash yelled. “Did you _really_ have to go and do that?!”

Razlo turned at the yells as Maria’s eyes widened.

The other man who had been aiming his weapon at Wolfwood before fell to the ground, chest completely blown out. And Nicholas was standing right behind him, his own gun held at point-blank range, where the man’s chest had been before.

“Master!” Razlo started running forward; Maria was barely able to pull her shield of flames back before he would have run into them. “Master, master, _master!”_

Maria let the fire dissipate completely; there was a thin circle of glass in the sand where it had sat a moment before. She stepped off her hoverboard and stepped across the glass and followed after Razlo as he ran towards the chestless corpse. Her steps were even, purposed, while Razlo’s was more of a mad, desperate scramble.

Wildfire saw the two of them approaching and her free hand shifted into a rifle-like cannon of her own.

“Get the kids back in the building!” Vash barked. “They shouldn’t have to see this!”

Wildfire’s movements then were quicker than were expected of someone who was a giant walking form made of metal and moving gears. The people she had protected were quickly ushered back inside the orphanage building, and Wildfire sat down in front of the doors and eyed the figures who were coming together in front of her.

“So, kid, what now?” Wildfire asked, her voice carrying far more easily than anyone else’s.

And then Razlo let out a crazed scream and started to go into a frenzy, all three arms moving and pointing the cross-like weapons in his hands in different directions – first at Vash, then at Wolfwood, then at Maria as she came to a stop, then at all three of them.

“I am alone because of you!” Razlo screamed.

Three figures rose up from the sand – white, armed in the same way that Razlo was but with only one cross weapon each.

All three of them lunged for Vash while Razlo went right for Wolfwood, but by then Wolfwood seemed to have recovered enough from the previous barrage that he was able to not only move out of the way but very quickly switch opponents with Vash.

The chatter of Wolfwood’s cross’ machine gun going off snapped Maria back into focus as the three figures were knocked down – for the moment, at least. No telling how long they had before they got up again.

“Wolfwood,” Vash said.

“Spikey,” Wolfwood replied.

“I swear you were in a pinch,” the two of them said at once, looking at the other disapprovingly.

And then Wolfwood hit Vash over the head.

“What the hell was that for?!” Vash demanded.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Wolfwood snapped back. “What about your brother?!”

The look on Vash’s face as Wolfwood said that made Maria snort and roll her eyes.

“We came here to look for you, idiot,” Maria said as she came to a stop near them. “Did you really think we were gonna do this without you around to see it?”

Wolfwood looked at Maria with a surprised expression and was about to respond when there came the whistle of something flung. The three of them split in different directions right before an explosion sent sand flying sky-high.

The three white figures – who had no faces, Maria saw now – were approaching them as Razlo stood behind, weapons at the ready.

Maria’s eyes flickered red first, then bright green. Her vision shifted across two different light spectrums, and that showed her the truth of the figures with Razlo.

“Stay back; these three are mine,” Maria said shortly.

Wolfwood looked at her sharply. “What are you—“

“Razlo.” Maria moved a few steps forward, deactivating the energy cannon as fire crawled up her arms. “You wanted to see what happened when I went on the offensive? Have a good look! _White Flare!”_

The explosion of white flames and searing heat that followed forced the three men watching to move back quickly in order to avoid getting burned. They also averted their gazes in order to avoid becoming blinded by the searing light as Maria threw a wave of white forward towards the three faceless beings.

It was over in an instant, and when Razlo, Vash, and Wolfwood looked again, there was nothing left of the three white beings except for a perfect circle of glass and melted metal.

“Robot drones,” Maria said. “No doubt running on some design that you forced out of my cousin. They had no sentience, and I hold no remorse in ending them.” The white sparks of flame that still danced on her shoulders slowly turned back to red-orange, then dissipated. “I do not kill sentient beings unless there is no other option for the violence to stop. Now you see why I’m holding back on this planet?”

The look of shock on Razlo’s face at the display of firepower kept him from answering for a moment – and only a moment. The sound of shifting machinery behind him caught his attention first.

“Behind!” Wildfire barked from the orphanage.

Razlo was nearly hit by the large, sharpened end of a cross-like weapon as it shot around behind him and towards Maria, who raised her left arm to block it by instinct. She winced as the metal points scraped against her armor and dug in.

“Tch.” Maria’s eyes narrowed as Razlo’s eyes seemed to shake as he turned his head to look at where the weapon had come from.

The other, older man – who was still lying in a pool of his own blood, which was slowly being absorbed by the sand – was somehow holding his weapon, having shot off the armored casing around the barrels, and looking at them with a murderous stare. He wasn’t getting up from the ground – yet – but it was clear that his body was healing at an unusually fast rate, considering that his heart was whole despite having been blasted out of his chest not too long ago.

“Master?!” Razlo stared in shock. “What are you doing?! You could have hit me!”

The old man didn’t answer as Maria gritted her teeth. She dropped her arm, bringing the armored casing with it. It hit the sand as Maria’s arm started glowing with a heat all its own, going from bright red to an almost white-hot as she pulled her arm away from the attempted attack.

As Maria held her arm out next to her, not looking at it as the heat slowly went down, Razlo’s stance changed, his shoulders stiffening.

“There’s no way…you were going to kill me too?!”

“People you call ‘master’ will only ever see you as a tool to use as a means to an end,” Maria said as the old man aimed his weapon again. “Do you see now? What _I’ve_ seen over the centuries of time I’ve spent alive?”

Razlo let out a crazed scream and aimed with his three crosses, pointing one towards the sky for a moment as he shot at the old man in a shower of bullets, taking out his entire upper body and leaving nothing behind but a puddle of blood and guts and bone.

Razlo almost seemed to bask in the shells that he was shooting, leaning back and letting the metal shower over him.

“YOU DIE TOO!” Razlo roared, aiming his third mechanical arm at the three standing behind him.

Maria saw his trigger finger started to press down and got into a crouch as she prepared to move – only for one of Razlo’s human arms to wrap around the metal one in an odd, contortionist move.

It took a second for Razlo to say anything. “You…Livio….”

“It’s over,” Razlo said again – but his voice was different this time. Less crazed and bloodthirsty. “Razlo, stop!”

“Wh-what? What did you say?” Razlo let out a crazed laugh. “Just who do you think you’re talking to, dickweed? Was that an order I heard??”

“You’re right,” Livio replied. “I’m sorry. But I will say this. The time has come for this to _end,_ Razlo.”

The human arm gripped the mechanical one tightly and started to squeeze as Maria watched with a guarded expression.

“Alternates,” Maria muttered to herself.

“Hey! Stop, you fool!” Razlo protested as the metal shrieked under the pressure. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d be nothing!”

The metal dented.

“I’m sorry,” Livio replied. “I really am. I forced all the hard shit onto you.”

The metal arm shrieked again.

“But I’m okay now. I can make it on my own.”

And the metal arm was twisted off in a final move.

“I want to live my life like him!” Livio roared into a scream of pain as the arm fell to the ground, circuits exposed to the air.

He stood there for a few moments, head bent back to the sky and mouth open mid-scream.

After a moment, the bent-back arm dropped back to where it was supposed to be, almost snapping back into place. He turned slowly and looked over at the other three and gave a shaky sort of grin.

“Hey,” he said. “Cry-baby Livio here.”


	24. Bending the Will of the World

The land outside of the orphanage looked like a battlefield. Some of it was Wolfwood’s blood, some of it was Livio’s, most of it _definitely_ came from the old man who had just been massacred, and then there was the circle of melted glass and metal that had once been Razlo’s “companions.”

“Why the hell did you two decide to get involved in my problems?” Wolfwood snapped, turning to look at Maria and Vash. “And what the _hell_ was that?!” He motioned wildly to Wildfire and the circle of glass as he glared at Maria. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, you little—“

“Explanations will have to wait until we get somewhere else,” Wildfire called down. “We’ve got other problems to worry about.”

“What do you mean?” Maria responded.

“I just got news from Soundwave – Knives’ ark is picking up speed again. I’ve asked him to get the shuttle over here so we can get the kids out of here.”

“How much time do we have?” Vash asked.

“An hour.” Wildfire’s glowing blue optics narrowed. “I’m shifting down before he spots me. We’re going to get the kids out of here, pack up their stuff, and meet up with Soundwave and Jolt when they get here. It’s not going to take them long.”

Maria gave a thumbs-up as Livio looked between them with a confused expression.

“Uh…mind explaining what’s going on?” the assassin asked.

“In a second.” Maria’s form glowed slightly, then flashed with fire as she shifted out of her armor. She reached under her jacket and pulled out a small suitcase with a red cross on it. “ _Someone_ needs medical attention.”

“I’m fine,” Wolfwood muttered.

There was the sound of shifting metal as Wildfire’s large, mechanical form suddenly shifted down to her more human one. “Yeah, right! And I’m a Quintessan! Take your medicine, cowboy.”

Wolfwood made a face at that as Maria opened the case and started pulling out weird-looking fruits. She held a pear-shaped, yellow fruit with brown spots out to him. “What the—“

“Sitrus Berry, from another dimension,” Maria replied. “It’s to help you _heal,_ idiot. Eat the damn thing, will ya? Or I’m gonna turn it into paste and force it down your throat.”

Wolfwood didn’t look too happy at the idea, so he took the fruit in one hand and wrapped his other around his middle as he chewed on the weird-looking thing.

Meanwhile, Wildfire was starting to open up the doors to the orphanage and get the children and their caretaker out in the open.

Livio only looked more confused as the doors to the orphanage opened, but then he looked nervous. “I-I’ll be nearby. I just don’t think the kids—“

Maria grabbed his arm before he could get too far as the kids and their caretaker started to slowly come out of the orphanage. “You stick around. You want answers to questions, you stay put.”

Maria’s clipped tone of voice caused Livio to shut his mouth and stop trying to pull away. “You…you’re not human, are you?”

Maria looked at Livio for a moment, then turned her gaze towards the orphanage as the kids started letting out cries of alarm. “I never said that I am presently. But I was, once.”

“We shouldn’t be letting the kids see this,” Vash said. “Not _any_ of this.”

Wolfwood sat down in the sand, looking like he wasn’t quite able to hold himself up as he had been. “They were gonna see this eventually anyway. Doesn’t matter that you think they should’ve been older.” He looked up at the sky and frowned. “So where’s this—“

A part of the sky rippled, and the Cybertronian shuttle revealed itself as it landed next to the orphanage. Still large in comparison to the building, it was definitely big enough for the kids and their caretaker to climb in.

“Take only what you need!” Wildfire yelled over the sound of the engines.

The group scattered back into the building, and Wildfire quickly jogged the short distance over to Maria and the others.

“First Aid’s gonna want to have a look at you,” Wildfire said, looking between Livio and Wolfwood. “I don’t care if you have fast healing or something else like that, you’re not going anywhere until—“

Wolfwood coughed, leaving a spot of blood on the sand next to him.

In an instant, Wildfire was big again and carefully scooping Wolfwood up in one hand, causing him to make a noise of complaint in response. “Nope. Maria bent the will of the world for you, you’re not gonna die that easily.” She turned and walked over to the shuttle and disappeared inside.

“Bent the will of the world?” Livio repeated, confused.

Vash looked at Maria sharply. “Your vision; he—“

“The original timeline of this world said that he was supposed to die mere minutes after that old man was killed.” Maria nodded. “I wasn’t about to let that happen, so I’ve changed the future by saving him. Midvalley too, come to think of it. It’s because of him and the Cybertronians’ involvement that we haven’t lost more civilians to Knives than we already have.”

“Chapel,” Livio said. “The man Raz…he was Chapel. Nicho-nii was supposed to be Punisher, but he took out the old man’s legs and went to Knives instead of him.”

Maria raised an eyebrow at that while Vash blinked in surprise. “Hm.”

Wildfire came out of the shuttle and started walking back, shifting down to her Pretender form and causing a few kids to stop and stare with wide-eyed expressions as she did. Their caretaker – a woman with short, rounded stature – broke off from a couple of them and quickly followed after her.

“First Aid’s looking him over,” Wildfire said as she came to a stop, the woman right behind her. Livio quickly turned his gaze away so that she couldn’t see his face. “It sounds like he could be pretty bad off, judging from how much he’s pushed himself. But she knows what she’s doing; he’s gonna be fine.”

Vash let out a sigh of relief.

“You people.”

The group of four shifted their attention towards the woman.

“What is Nicholas involved in?” she asked worriedly. “Those people – they—“

“There’s…a lot, that’s happened to him,” Vash said carefully. “Stay with him, okay? I don’t think you want to see anything happen to him now. He…he needs his family.”

The woman looked worried at his words, then nodded quickly. She looked over at Livio – who didn’t look back at her – and frowned, eyes narrowing. “Keep yourselves safe, all right? If there are people like that out there, we’re going to need all the help we can get to stay safe.”

Maria nodded as Livio bowed his head a little, but said nothing.

The woman looked between them for a moment longer, then turned and ran towards the shuttle and the crowd of kids standing at the base of it.

“What now?” Wildfire looked over at them. “Knives is on the horizon and—“

“I’m following him,” Vash replied, determined. “Take the kids and get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving you alone,” Maria spoke up, frowning at Vash. “Not by a long shot.”

Livio looked between the two of them, then looked over at Wildfire. “You might as well just tell them to get out of here and leave us on our own. We’ll follow Knives.”

Vash looked at him in surprise as Wildfire raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest.

“What, without me?” Wildfire sounded amused.

“They’ve got me already,” Maria pointed out. “Get moving – we don’t have much time before he swings around here.”

Wildfire looked a little irritated at that, but she shook her head at Maria instead. “All right; but if there’s any action that’s gonna be going on, I still want a piece of it. Playing babysitter today wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

Wildfire nodded, then turned and ran back towards the shuttle, disappearing inside. The doors closed a moment later, and the entire thing shimmered before disappearing.

“Cloaking device,” Maria explained to Livio’s stare.

“I don’t know how much of a help that’s gonna be,” Livio commented. He swayed a little on his feet.

“Every little bit helps.” Maria frowned at him, then looked at Vash. “We’re going to have to wait a bit before Knives gets here.”

Vash nodded. “Yeah; let’s stay in the orphanage for a bit, let Knives get ahead of us a little.”

“He’s not gonna get far,” Maria replied with a serious tone in her voice. “Get inside – especially you. You look like you’re going to fall over at any moment.” She looked at Livio pointedly.

“M’fine,” Livio said in a slightly slurred town. He started to move towards the building, and nearly fell over. Vash rushed over and caught him before he could hit the ground.

“What do you plan to do?” Vash looked over at Maria with a serious expression, frowning.

Maria cracked her neck in a smooth movement. “I’m going to send him a message. You don’t make people take on the mantle of tool to crazed masters and take cousins and turn them into computer databases. There are consequences for that.” Her blue eyes flashed a brighter color for a moment. “And it is time that he started to learn them.”

Vash considered that, then nodded. “Don’t go overboard.”

“I won’t.” Maria’s voice suddenly became light and knowing. “I’m fully adjusted to how this planet affects my power; I’m not going to do anything beyond what I _intend_ to do when he passes over.”

Vash looked like he wasn’t quite sure what to think of that, but he nodded and helped Livio into the orphanage.

As soon as he disappeared into the building, Maria cracked her knuckles and turned her gaze up to the sky.

Knives’ ark was on the horizon.

“All right, you big-headed moron,” Maria muttered. “Let’s see what you think of _this.”_

**Change in POV**

Knives had been expecting that the little area to be an easy “blow to pieces” situation.

He hadn’t expected the loud, metallic shriek that came up from the ground below right before he could shoot.

And then the Plants he had been collecting – the Plants he had been _saving_ from the human oppressors – _reacted._

And they reacted in a way Knives hadn’t expected.

_Half-sister. Crosser. **Grief.**_

Knives recoiled, causing his gathered energy to misfire and hit a portion of the world near the city he had been about to wipe off the map. What _was_ that? Why…why did he feel like his very being was being torn in two?

The feeling of soft flames flickered across the back of his mind – was that – no, just a memory.

He saw the face of a girl – a young human woman, with piercing blue eyes that seemed to show clearly despite the wall of glass between her and his own face.

Their hands were pressed against the glass, and he could feel…something.

Fire. Warm, gentle. It was strange, but…comforting.

_I’m Maria. Do you have a name?_

Names weren’t something that could be properly conveyed among Plants, but—

Knives was pulled abruptly from the memory. That _had_ been a memory.

There had been something about that—

The scream came again, and Knives recognized it this time.

**_“Cousin-Killer!”_ **

The scream pulled him back to another memory – but his own, this time.

That drone from before, but now he looked…different. In one piece.

 _“My name is Spark,”_ he said, nodding. _“I don’t think I’ve seen someone quite like you here before.”_

Knives was jolted from his memory again when he heard the third metallic screech.

**_“Spark died by your hands! Plant-friend_ ** **died _by your hands!”_**

The screaming of the Plants in his mind set off a headache that traveled down his spine.

That voice – Maria, according to the memories of the other Plants – was…was someone the Plants _knew?_ And that drone had been a _friend?_

It didn’t make any sense whatsoever. Drones weren’t – were _made_ by humans. They were less than humans, less than Plants.

The screaming sound of something quickly entered his ears, and he felt pain across his senses as something searing hot burned into the side of the ship.

Then he felt the brush of flames against his mind.

_I’m sorry for this. But the monster who has you in place has done things he must answer for._

And then the voice was gone, leaving Knives feeling unusually shaken.

And terrified at himself for reasons he couldn’t quite comprehend, other than the Plants he had absorbed being the source.

…he needed to know more about this “Maria.” This “Campfire” that they knew and he didn’t.

It was time that he delved into their memories a little to understand what it was they knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody lived who wasn't supposed to~
> 
> Last time that happened was Midvalley, and then another person Maria wanted to save -- Joshua -- ended up passing.
> 
> So what is going to be the consequence for saving Wolfwood....?


	25. Short Breather

**Chapter 25 – Short Breather**

When Vash and Livio woke up a few hours later, Maria was in the middle of making a very large meal from what remained in the orphanage.

There was a sign sitting near her.

“Sorry if I disturbed you; I just needed to convey a message at that floating brick and it blew out my vocal chords,” Livio read aloud. “I’ll have my voice back when the food’s gone.” He looked over at Vash, who had a look on his face that suggested he knew what Maria was talking about.

Maria looked back at them over her shoulder, not even looking at the pan in her hand as she cooked the rice that was sitting in it. Her expression was apologetic and tired at the same time, but she didn’t look as angry as she had a few hours before.

“…Did you get through to him?” Vash asked.

Maria shrugged one shoulder in response, then made an annoyed noise and sighed before taking the pan of rice and dumping it onto a plate, hidden between plates stacked high with rice and salads. She motioned to the table pointedly, then took a plate of her own, covered it in food, and retreated back a few steps.

Livio and Vash exchanged looks, then sat down at the table and promptly dug in with the gusto that only hungry men can have. Maria swung back around the table only once to get more food, never saying a word, but the rest of the food was completely eaten by Livio and Vash.

Maria leaned against the stove as she reached behind her and turned the burners off. She raised an eyebrow at Vash and Livio as they leaned back, patting their stomachs. “Knives knows of my presence, at least.”

Her voice – sounding slightly raspy, like she had overused it – caused Vash to look over in surprise.

“I don’t know if he knows everything that exists concerning me, but if he has a copy of Joshua’s database on his ark, he’ll know soon enough.” Maria shook her head.

“…why did you tell him?” Vash asked.

“I felt it would be better for him to be aware of the consequences of killing and misusing my cousin.” Maria’s voice was slowly becoming stronger with every word she spoke. “He has ended the life of a World Jumper. The _last_ person from Earth who I not only knew personally, but had _grown up_ with. Not to mention the only person besides me who knows personally the sorts of events that have happened before that should never happen again.”

Livio looked at her strangely. “World Jumper? Sounds like some kinda kids’ tale.”

“It might be to some, but I am proof that it is real.” Maria’s appearance flickered to her armor for a moment before shifting back, causing Livio’s eyebrows to rise up sharply. “My name is Maria Carlsdale; I’m supposed to have been one of the two to scout planets before the colony ships landed on them. Not only did the _crash_ disrupt that, but now the one who caused the crash also tore my brother apart and _used_ him.” She shook her head. “Now I’m the only World Jumper left _alive_ in this dimension, and while that puts us at an advantage…it puts me at a disadvantage. I don’t have anyone with similar experiences to talk to anymore, much less strategize with.”

Livio looked at her cautiously, then leaned forward. “You mentioned before – when – when Chapel was still around. Something about…being used? Does that have anything to do with—“

“That’s a part of my past I don’t talk about freely,” Maria replied. “But I can see that it’s something that I should discuss with you now.” She paused, gathering her thoughts together. “People have used me for my abilities before – and without my allowing them to. They have taken control of my body and my mind from me and I don’t like the feel of it in the least. Hearing you call _that man_ your—“ Maria cut herself off and shuddered. “…Let’s just say that even thinking about it still brings chills down my spine.”

The look on Livio’s face as Maria said that shifted from curiosity to realization. He frowned. “Are they still around?”

Maria snorted and shook her head. “The first man who attempted such things is long dead by now; the second lost his ability to control others using his infecting virus, as have others.” Her expression became more grim. “As for the others…there has been one that nearly used me to destroy dimensions. As far as I am aware, they disappeared from existence after I was rescued and very quickly _reset_ that entire portion of the multiverse. The Dark Arms won’t be giving any more trouble.”

Something about the words made Vash’s spine crawl. He didn’t ask why.

“Because I’ve been controlled, I know what it takes to knock some people out of it,” Maria added. “But we don’t have much time left. We have to stop Knives before he can take things out of control, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that sitting around here for much longer is going to be a good idea.”

“No,” Vash agreed. He moved up to his feet. “Which way is—“

“West,” Maria nodded to the window. “I watched him swing out in that direction.”

“…that’s December – the main part of the city.” Vash nodded, eyes sharpening with focus. “We’re going to need to get there quickly.”

“We can use Chapel’s car.”

Vash and Maria looked at Livio, who sunk down a little in his seat.

“…I mean, it’s not like he’s using it anymore,” Livio added.

“Fair enough,” Maria said. “I’m ready to go when you are.”

Vash pushed himself away from the table as he rose to his feet. “We need to end this now. I don’t want to lose – or nearly lose – anyone else to Knives than we already have.”

Livio looked hesitant for a moment, but then his expression hardened, and he nodded in agreement. “Yeah. This is the only world we’ve got, right? I don’t want to see everything that Nicho-nii wants to protect _die.”_

Vash looked at Livio in surprise, then nodded a little in response. “Where’s the car?”

**Time Break**

Maria sat in the back seat with her arms folded across her chest as Livio drove them across the desert. Vash snored in the front passenger seat next to him.

The car was black, long, sleek, and clearly built to handle the desert. Probably passed as something of a limo on this world. Considering who exactly Chapel likely had been and who it was he had followed, Maria wasn’t surprised that he owned a car like this.

And she wasn’t surprised to know that Livio knew how to drive it, either. Considering that he’d said that Wolfwood had blown out Chapel’s legs, that had probably left Livio as his chaperone most of the time.

It was still dark out. They weren’t planning on resting for long, and that was something Maria was fine with. She wasn’t affected in the least by sleep cycles.

And, apparently, neither was Livio.

So when a bright spotlight from one of the repurposed human ships suddenly shone down from out of nowhere, Livio was able to come screeching to a halt as Vash was jolted awake at the abrupt halt.

Maria leaned forward sharply as Vash quickly shook himself to full wakefulness. “What now?”

“It’s not one of Knives’,” Livio replied, watching through the front windshield.

A rope ladder came down, and a familiar figure with an electric-blue outfit slid down and hit the ground, sending up a small puff of sand that settled a moment later.

Maria was moving out of the car in moments. “Jolt. What’s going on?”

“Wildfire told us that you were planning on going on alone,” Jolt replied. “Did you really think that you were going to take on Knives alone?”

“I’m not doing this alone,” Maria said as Vash pulled himself out of the car, followed by Livio – who moved more slowly than Vash to see who it was who had stopped in front of them. “How’s Wolfwood?”

Jolt hesitated at the question, causing Vash’s expression to pale slightly. “He’s…stable. But for the moment, it appears as though he is in a coma – for now. First Aid is keeping an eye on him.”

Vash’s expression shifted at that, first looking relieved, but then his expression darkened. “Knives….”

“You can’t take him on like this.” Jolt’s glowing blue eyes moved to Livio, and he frowned as the other stiffened under the cloak he had grabbed from the orphanage. “Who is this?”

“I’m…I’m Livio.” Livio ducked his head, clearly not wanting to meet the other’s gaze at the moment. “I’m a friend of Nicho-ni – Nicholas’.”

Jolt’s eyes narrowed slightly. “If I was Sparkseer, I’d be able to tell whether or not that is the truth. But you don’t seem like someone I should trust willingly just yet.”

Livio nodded, but he said nothing.

“If you’re chasing after Knives, then you’re hoping to go to December?” Jolt looked at the other two.

Maria and Vash nodded.

“There was a forced evacuation a few weeks ago; we weren’t able to get to the people there because it was the military’s work, and we decided that our shuttle wasn’t something they should see and possibly shoot down,” Jolt explained. “They’re planning on making their last stand there, and they’ve apparently set up an Ion Blaster there. It’s something that…that Joshua and I worked together on.”

The hesitation was the only thing that showed that the loss of Maria’s cousin still burned strong.

“They plan to burn out the circuitry in the ark and cause it to crash, but you know what’s going to happen, since they’re powering it with Plants.”

Vash’s expression shifted at that. “They don’t know that Plants have their own will – that they’re not gonna attack their own kind.”

“Primus damnit,” Maria cursed. “The people here _really_ don’t know _anything_ about the people they have to live on! Knives just got a lot more to work with, didn’t he?”

Jolt nodded grimly. “We have to end this soon. Earth’s nearly here, and we don’t have much time before their Plants get involved in this as well.” He nodded up to the ship. “Luida is going ahead of us to meet with the people in Octovern, to warn them. It’s the last city that’s standing after December. We’re following after her. Come up.”

With that, Jolt quickly climbed up the rope ladder and into the ship again.

Vash exchanged looks with Maria and Livio for a moment, then motioned for Livio to move up ahead of them. Livio hesitated for a moment before nodding, then started climbing up.

Maria shot Vash a pointed look when he turned to look at her, and he sighed and climbed up next before Maria followed up after him.

The area inside the small pod-like ship was open enough for the group to be able to sit on the floor. Jolt moved up to sit in the cockpit next to Brad, who looked at Livio suspiciously before he turned and looked back at the dark skyline ahead.

Maria sat leaning against a metal wall and pulled one knee up, folding her hands and resting them against it as she looked up at the ceiling of the pod.

“…I need to know,” Maria said finally. “Did Joshua leave anything behind that could help them understand?”

Jolt tilted his head slightly at the question.

“What’s that supposed ta mean?” Brad asked.

“Joshua was the one who discovered the Plants,” Maria replied. “He was the one who first found them; I was the first one who found out how to communicate with them.” She turned her head to look at the others. “I know my message earlier did something to Knives. I wonder if he’s going to follow through and actually find out what it is that he did to my cousin.”

Vash shook his head. “Who can say? He’s probably losing himself to my sisters.” He looked at Maria with a saddened expression, but his eyes were sparking with a determination that hadn’t been as strong before. It seemed that, after nearly losing Wolfwood, something had snapped into focus. “I just hope we can stop him before things get any worse.”

Maria nodded in agreement as Livio looked between the two of them quietly, not quite sure what to make of the conversation.

“…let’s get some rest,” Maria said finally. “Regain our strength. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

**Change in POV**

Knives wasn’t sure _what_ was hiding in the database here, but he hadn’t been expecting that message.

Elendria watched him as he warped out of the ship and back up to the top of the ark to think. The voices of his sisters pounded against his mind, trying to show him more memories, but too weak to manage much more than push emotions forward against him.

He played over the message again in his head.

_“If you are seeing this, it’s because either I’ve died, or you’ve hacked into the programming of this ship and found my farewell message. If you don’t know who I am, my name is Joshua Spark Langstrom, cousin-in-name to Maria Flare-Up Carlsdale. I, like Maria, am a human who was transferred into a robotic shell, prolonging my life to unusual lengths. But, even with that, it seems likely that I will pass on at some point in the near future._

_“And so I have decided to record my story on every computer in the colony fleet, to ensure that not only my story – but Maria’s and our family’s story – is also told. Before I continue, I should list my accomplishments._

_“I am the one who discovered the between-dimensional beings known as Plants. My initial plan was to use them only as an axillary power source, allowing them to come and go as they pleased, while we relied on other, cleaner energies. However, when other humans discovered them, they came to different conclusions. I can only hope that this will be resolved peacefully….”_

Knives considered looking to see if what the drone had said was true, but the cries of his sisters had confirmed what the recording had told him.

He had, essentially, killed a possible ally.

And the other ally now stood against him, _with his brother._

He wasn’t going to turn back now – there must have been a glitch in the girl’s programming that prevented her from seeing the full picture, that kept her from seeing the truth of things.

He was going to make sure that they all saw the truth. And he was going to make sure that the humans who had used them on this planet for the last century got what they deserved.

They would all die for enslaving his people. Knives was going to see to it.


	26. Everything's Coming Together

Octovern was still standing when they few in, much to Jolt’s and Brad’s evident relief. They’d flown past the destruction of December on the way, and seeing the chaos that had been left behind…

…well, it was apparent that this one last hub of civilization was practically a last stand for what remained of humanity on No Man’s Land.

“There’s a commotion going on down there!”

Maria lifted her head at Vash’s exclamation and rose to her feet as he scrambled over to the trap door that led out of the ship.

“Hey! What are you—“

“Let me handle it,” Maria cut Brad off. She shifted over to her armor as Vash opened the door, and promptly dropped down before Vash could start pushing the rope ladder out the door.

Maria dropped like a stone and landed in the middle of the street in front of a large man with a gun. The street cracked under her weight, instantly creating a small crater where she stood.

The man stumbled back in surprise as Maria raised an eyebrow at him, folding her arms across her chest.

“And just what the Pit do you think you’re doing?” Maria asked casually.

The man pointed the weapon at her. “We’re all gonna die anyway! So why not just—“

Maria’s right arm was her energy cannon in an instant, and the Stun Shot that exploded from her weapon cut the man off with a strangled, gasping yell.

There was a moment’s pause, and then a number of uniformed men rushed past her and dogpiled the man with enough force that it bowled him over.

One of the men walked up as Vash slipped down the ladder and landed a short distance away before the pod could fly off. “Excuse me – who are—“

“Maria Carlsdale,” Maria replied, her armor shifting back to her clothes as she spoke. “I’m a friend of Luida’s.”

The man paused at that, looking between her and Vash as a pair of familiar women ran up to him. “You…that woman? The one from the isolated colony ship?”

“Is it really all that surprising?” Maria raised an eyebrow.

The man considered that, then shook his head and gained a more serious expression. “Well, welcome to Octovern then. We expect you to be on your best behavior here, as this city is under martial law to keep the peace as best as possible. So, do not instigate fights, understand?”

Maria gave him a curt nod in response. “Understood. I plan on saving my energy for the fight that’s coming on the horizon.” She looked up at the sky.

The man looked a little uneasy at the mention of that, but he nodded anyway. “Good. Carry on, then – and remember, no trouble.” He quickly moved to help his men with the troublemaker, and Maria walked over to Meryl and Millie – the former of the two hugging Vash tightly.

“It’s good to see that you’re all right,” Millie said warmly as Maria approached. “I didn’t think that you’d be able to survive a fall from that height!”

“I’m built to withstand a lot of things,” Maria replied knowingly. She smiled. “It’s good to see that you’re safe, too. Did you get here with Luida?”

Millie nodded as Meryl looked over. “Yes; she’s been talking with the mayor of the city to try and tell them what’s going on and what they shouldn’t do that December did.” She gained a worried expression. “I hope that she can get through to them.”

“I hope so, too.” Maria nodded. “At this point, the fate of this world hangs in the balance here.”

“Yeah….” Millie looked uncertain for a moment, but then her expression brightened. “Hey – do you want a tour of the city? We’ve been here for a little while and there are some really nice places here – when people aren’t panicking about what’s coming, that is.”

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind a look around. Would you, Vash?”

“Hmm?” Vash looked over. “Uh…sure. It’s not like we have anything else we can do right now.”

“Great!” Millie smiled. “Come on!”

**Time Break**

Octovern was crowded, but considering that it was also the last large city standing in the way of Knives’ crazed massacre of the human race, crowded was not only expected – it was also the least of their worries.

“I could cut the tension here with one of my blades,” Maria commented as they walked down the street.

“Blades?” Millie repeated. “Since when do you—“

“I haven’t used them because I haven’t gotten into close combat of that kind yet,” Maria replied blandly. “Most people _here_ use guns; I can’t get close enough to them. And besides, using a Stun Shot is safer. I don’t hurt people more than I do paralyze them that way.”

“Huh.”

“I haven’t gotten a chance to test out what Jolt did,” Vash remembered. He looked down at his prosthetic arm thoughtfully. “Do you think we could—“

Vash was cut off suddenly by the sound of radio static crackling through the air.

 _“Dear brethren. We are the Solar System Space Fleet_ Pieces of Earth. _This message is being broadcast on all international frequencies. Our fleet is currently 160,000 space miles from your position. We are approaching from Vector Alpha Vega. We come in peace. Please respond. Dear brethren…”_

As the message started to repeat, Maria’s gaze moved from the people around them – who responded to the message by looking around in confusion – and up to the sky above them.

She moved her left hand to her left ear and closed one eye. “At least you still know English. But I swear to Primus, if you people only do more harm than good in the long run I’m just going to have to kick all your afts, aren’t I?”

“Are you talking to someone?” Meryl frowned at Maria.

“Not right now, no. But I could. It’s just that not only is my reach limited, but the satellites on the planet are few in number – not to mention being used. And any message from me is going to get Knives’ attention, and I’d rather not set that off.” Maria lowered her hand from her ear. “So I’ll just have to wait and see what comes of this from the sidelines.”

“Let’s get to Luida,” Vash suggested.

The streets were clear enough that the group was able to get back up to the mayor’s place of residence. As they went, the people on the streets started reacting in joy and relief to the repeating message that was coming from their radios.

“It’s amazing!” Millie said, looking around. “The entire city is abuzz!”

“Of course it is!” Vash replied. The delighted smile on his face made Maria grin a bit. “This is a historic moment! We’re connecting back with Earth again, and the people here have a chance at surviving a little bit longer.” The grin faded a little. “We just have to survive past this day.”

Maria nodded in agreement. “You have something in mind?”

Vash nodded. “Yeah.”

They climbed up the stairs leading to the mayor’s manor, meeting Luida and a couple other people at the entrance to the building.

“Vash, Maria.” Luida nodded in greeting. “It’s good to see you are doing well.” She frowned at Vash. “Is there a little more black hair there than when I saw you last?”

“A little,” Vash admitted. He chuckled a little nervously, trying to put the stare off his head. Then his expression became more serious. “Today has to be the day.”

“Oh?” Luida raised an eyebrow. “And everything you’ve done up until now has been nothing?”

“It has everything to do with timing,” Vash replied, serious. “If we plan this right, this could be our chance.”

Luida considered that, then nodded. “You’re right. No one knows how much force or firepower the Earth fleet has brought with it. I’m sure Knives is feeling the pressure. Or…that is what I tried to tell them.”

The door behind her burst open, revealing a man in military uniform. “Miss Luida!”

“I see they’ve sent for me,” Luida said. “Keep monitoring the situation.”

“Do you want me to go?” Vash blinked.

“No. I want _you_ thinking about our line of attack – you _and_ our World Jumper ally.” Luida looked over at Maria, who nodded in response.

“Check on the cargo from the last ship from the base!” Luida told the soldiers as she motioned up to the transport Maria and Vash had taken on their way to the city. “We don’t have much time!”

Brad, Jolt, and Livio slid down the ladder and hit the ground as the soldiers reached the ladder; they quickly started climbing up in order to get access to the rest of the machinery.

“…Where’s Pastor-san?” Millie asked.

Jolt’s expression shifted slightly. “He’s…under medical care at the moment. He isn’t going to be participating in this fight.”

Millie’s eyes widened sharply. “Is he—“

“He is _fine,”_ Jolt replied. “He is stable, and as far as I know, First Aid intends to keep him that way as he recovers. It’s simply a matter of time. I would send you on to see him, but right now we have bigger problems to worry about.”

Millie stared at Jolt with a wide-eyed expression before nodding quickly. “R-right.”

Luida walked back into the building behind her, and Maria turned to look at Vash.

“What do you intend to do?” Maria asked, expression serious. “Because whatever it is you’re doing, I’m going to want to get involved, too.”

“I don’t want to see you get involved in what I’m going to have to do,” Vash replied.

“I’m a World Jumper. Idiot.” Maria bumped her fist against Vash’s arm lightly. “I get involved in worlds where there’s trouble, and I’m intent on saving people here. You’re not going to get rid of me as easily as saying a few words.”

Vash shook his head. “The battle between me and Knives is going to be – it’s going to be dangerous. I don’t want people getting too close. I’m going to need everything I own _personally_ for this, and since you’re a sentient being, that means you shouldn’t get involved so closely.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Meryl’s expression shifted suddenly. “We have some of your things from a while back – come on!” She grabbed Vash’s hand and started dragging him off.

Maria looked over at Millie and raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“…I think she’s talking about a few things we found after the Fifth Moon incident,” Millie commented. “Well, come on.”

The place that Meryl and Millie had been staying in wasn’t all that far. Millie and Maria got into the room just as Vash dumped the contents of an envelope across a table. There were a number of odd-looking trinkets, as well as a metal case that caused Maria’s eyebrow to rise.

“These are what were on your person before,” Meryl explained. “They were on file as evidence back in the company, but now that Bernadelli Insurance doesn’t exist anymore, I thought you’d want them back.”

Vash didn’t quite look like he was listening. He reached forward and picked up the metal case and opened it. A look of relief passed across his face instantly. “They’re here!”

“What are?” Maria moved over to glance over his shoulder and blinked in surprise when she saw the coins that sat in the case. Each one looked like they had been cut in half with a jagged cut. “What—“

“They’re from the Gung-Ho Guns,” Vash explained. “Every one I beat, I got a half a coin from them.”

Maria noticed that he said “beat,” but she could guess that something else might have happened too – like what had happened in the Dragon’s Nest Fortress.

“I picked up a couple at the Dragon’s Nest,” Meryl said. “And…one more on the ship. From the…the weird little men.”

Maria remembered those two. Her expression crinkled up into a scowl.

“Do you have the others?” Millie asked.

“To tell you the truth, it wasn’t that big of a priority.” Vash paused, considering. “But we’re lucky. It looks like I’ll be able to collect them all. Thank you.”

“I-I scanned them on the ship,” Meryl added. “They don’t seem to be hiding any explosives or biological agents.”

“Of course not.” Vash pocketed the metal case. “That’s not how he does things.”

“Huh?” Meryl blinked in confusion while Maria frowned.

“He doesn’t like things coming to a sudden end without him noticing,” Vash added. “I’m gonna go find Marlon – is he around?”

“He is,” Meryl replied, still sounding a little confused. “Why? You need more ammunition?”

“Something like that.” Vash gave a small smile, then stepped out of sight.

Maria watched him step out, then cracked her knuckles. “Okay. He’s got his own plan, but I’ve got _mine._ I’m gonna go find Jolt and see if Wildfire’s around. It’s time that the Fire Storm made her appearance again.” Her eyes sparked. “And I don’t intend to sit around on the sidelines and wait for things to happen. Not this time.”

“Y-your friend is in with Miss Luida talking strategy,” Millie offered.

“Thanks.”

Maria made her way back to the main building they’d stopped in front of before and was about to push the doors open and go in when the doors opened up from the inside, and Wildfire and Jolt stepped out.

“There you are.” Wildfire grinned. “Getting ready?”

Maria nodded. “Are First Aid and the shuttle out of range for this?”

“As far out of range as we can get them to be, considering how dangerous Knives has become,” Jolt replied. “What do you need?”

Maria looked Jolt in the eye. “We need a way to disable Knives. Vash is working on something on his own, but I want to know if there are other tricks that I might have up my sleeve that Joshua might have considered at some point. Do you have his research on you?”

Jolt hesitated. Wildfire nudged him in the arm with an elbow.

“You know what she’s talking about,” Wildfire said.

“It’s meant to be a last resort,” Jolt replied. “And considering how powerful this planet can make Maria—“

“We’re literally looking at last resorts right now,” Maria replied. “Now tell me. What did Joshua find out? I should think that he would want his research used to stop Knives before he goes further than he already has.”

Jolt looked grim at the question, but then he nodded. “All right. I’ll tell you, but I hope to Primus you never have to go that far.”

“I could say the same. But I don’t know how far Knives will go, and I have to be prepared for everything.” Maria’s expression shifted slightly, showing more sadness in her gaze. “I wish Joshua was here to help us.”

“I do, too,” Jolt replied quietly. He sighed. “Come on; let’s go somewhere that I can set up a private terminal so that we can go through his last will and testament, and…research.”


	27. Strategizing

The explosion on the horizon after the sun set was noticed by everyone in Octovern – including Maria and her two disguised Cybertronian friends.

“Knives just blew _something_ up,” Maria muttered. Fire sparked from her fingertips as she shifted over to her armor. “Something tells me that he’s going to be here soon.”

“You’ve bent the world enough, Maria,” Jolt said. “You can’t seriously tell me that you’re planning on going through with what Joshua could be possibly suggesting here!”

“If there’s a chance that people can be saved, I have to take it,” Maria replied evenly. “I’m not about to just sit and let people die because one man thinks an entire civilization should be destroyed just because of some research he came across. I don’t know if I can change Knives’ mind – I probably can’t, all things considered – but my interference in this fight may make all the difference in who lives and who dies.”

“It’s already made a difference.” Wildfire looked away from the hastily-built but well-made computer terminal and put her hands on her hips. “Midvalley and Nicholas would have died if you hadn’t gotten involved, and both of them are staying away from this fight tonight.”

“They would have anyway if they’d ended up dead,” Maria replied in a pointed tone. “At least this time they can watch the fight and see how things turn out for us.” She turned away from the horizon and looked at the two of them with a grim, determined expression. “Are Soundwave and Sparkseer staying out of this as well?”

“Soundwave has to, for the sake of sending back information to Cybertron in case things go worse or for the better,” Jolt replied. “And Sparkseer is monitoring Nicholas’ aura with First Aid, in case something goes wrong.”

Maria nodded. “And you two?”

“I’m thinking about getting in there, but something tells me that neither do the humans here _remember_ Cybertron, nor do they know that they have aliens walking among them,” Wildfire replied. “I mean, _some_ of them know, but not enough of them to really let me go running around without causing some panic.” She shrugged. “I’ll see what I can do from here. I may be in Pretender mode, but that doesn’t mean I can’t throw around fireballs.” She grinned widely. “You get involved, you’ve got backup with me.”

Maria nodded in response, smirking. “Thanks. At this point, we’re going to need all the help we can get.” The smirk dropped. “Especially considering what is waiting for us on the horizon.”

Wildfire and Jolt nodded in agreement.

“I’m going to go take a look around. I need…I need some time to think. I have all the information I need—“

“You just need to work through it,” Jolt said, nodding. “Do you want a sounding board?”

“Not right now, no.” Maria paused, considering. “I…if I do, I’ll find someone. There are a lot of people here thinking about what’s coming and have opinions to offer. Depending on how I word my thoughts, I might get an answer that I’m looking for.”

Jolt considered that, then nodded. “I’ll be here if you need to talk about what Joshua said.”

Maria nodded, then turned and started walking around the building they’d turned momentarily into a base of operations. As she went, her mind started to wander in a number of different directions – mostly one in particular.

Maria sighed through her nose and pinched the bridge between her eyes. “Joshua, I _really_ wish you were here to help me think things through. But you just _had_ to go and die, didn’t you? I saved Midvalley, I’ve saved Wolfwood, but I couldn’t save _you._ Fate of the multiverse my aft, you dolt.”

She snorted bitterly and looked up at the stars above. Unfamiliar constellations blinked back at her. “Now I’m more alone than ever, and I’ve got a plan to work out before things go completely out of control. Knives is coming, and we’ve got to stop him before he kills everyone, but I don’t want to kill him either. Vash has filled me in on the whole story – he’s misguided, but not…not insane. At least, I hope not. I don’t want to go to Vash and tell him to give up on saving his brother; that would be stupid.”

She dropped her head and shook her head. “No; he’s come this far fighting as much as he has for the result that he’s hoping for. And it’s a result I’m hoping for too. But now that I’ve bent the will of the world to stop Wolfwood from dying…what do I have to do to stop Knives?”

“Talking to yourself?”

Maria whirled at the voice and caught sight of a familiar, half-tattooed face. “Livio? You’ve cut your hair.”

The man shrugged. “Yeah, it…I would’ve been too recognizable otherwise.”

“Even with the tattoo?”

Livio ducked his head. “…I’ll get it removed when all this is done. Probably.” He looked back at her. “You’re trying to figure out what to do when Knives finally gets here, right?”

“Yeah.” Maria nodded. “I have…a few techniques that I haven’t used yet. Quite a few. But I don’t know if any of them will be of any help. And there’s one last resort, but I don’t want to force myself to use that.” She shook her head.

“…well, Knives has gotten to be pretty strong now, but he’s got Plants merged with him – at least, that’s what Vash’s said.” Livio shrugged. “I already know that I’m going after the Crimson Nail tomorrow. She’s more than enough trouble and she’s the thirteenth of Legato’s minions. Better to take care of her before she tries to get in Vash’s way.”

Maria considered that for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. How dangerous is she?”

“She’s the only one who didn’t get a coin, for one thing. And for another, she’s practically Knives’ right hand, besides Legato. No way is she gonna stand down for any of this.” Livio’s eyes narrowed. “It’s gonna be tough, but I don’t plan on making it easy.”

Maria nodded in response. “Planning for an opponent who could possibly be unpredictable is pretty difficult when it comes to your own strategies, huh?”

Livio nodded. “Yeah. The Crimson Nail – I don’t know her strategies. I just hope that the right people come out on top in the end of all this.”

“We will,” Maria replied with conviction. “I refuse to believe anything otherwise.”

Livio blinked, then tilted his head slightly. “Are you –“ He paused, frowned, then tried again. “Are you really as lucky and reckless as they say you are? Because I’ve heard things about you practically throwing yourself into the line of fire to save someone’s life, even if it meant you’d end up dead or worse.”

“One hears a lot of things about what World Jumpers do and don’t do,” Maria replied cryptically. She paused as Livio stared at her. “But yes, that’s usually how I do things.”

“Try not to do it this time unless it looks like it’s the only way to stop things.”

Maria looked at Livio with a deadpan expression. “I’m more than aware of that. If Joshua was here, he would be telling me the exact same thing. ‘The multiverse is bigger than this one event, Maria. Don’t throw yourself into something when you could be needed for something far bigger in the future.’ Like he knew what the multiverse needed me for.” She huffed, but there wasn’t any malice to it.

“…you really miss him, don’t you?”

Maria nodded in response to Livio’s question. “He…he was the only connection that I had to how I’d grown up on Earth. The only _human_ connection, even if we aren’t human any longer. Wildfire and the others, even though they’ve been near and with me for most of my life, aren’t human. I could go to Joshua and talk about things that humans understand and have experienced, and he would know exactly what I was talking about. Wildfire and the others only know because they’ve _watched,_ they haven’t _done,_ and that makes all the difference.”

Livio nodded.

“And with that connection gone…I feel more alone than I did before.” Maria shook her head. “I’m losing my connections to this dimension, slowly but surely. And there will come a time when…when I outlive Wildfire, probably.”

“You’re both robots though, right?”

Maria shot him a look. “I’m a Reploid, Wildfire’s a Cybertronian. There are as many differences there as there are differences between Vash and you.”

Livio held up his hands. “I meant no offense.”

“Most people don’t.” Maria sighed through her nose and put her hands on her hips. “Being a Reploid basically means I am a mechanical being who can think, act, and essentially be human if not for my metal body. Cybertronians are _born_ in their mechanical bodies – they are sentient beings made of metal from the start of their lives. Calling either one of us robots is a derogatory term that suggests we don’t have free will of our own.”

“…oh.” Livio blinked. “So, when Knives called Joshua a data drone—“

“He was referring to Joshua in a manner that suggested Joshua wasn’t sentient. Which he was.” Maria nodded. “It’d be the same as calling you a dumb animal.”

“Now I get it. But he interacted with Joshua on the ship, right? That’s what Vash said anyway.”

“Yeah. But he could have seen Joshua’s actions as pre-programmed movements, which is really, really annoying.” Maria huffed. “You don’t get that kind of interaction that Joshua could do from a being that was _programmed_ to act a certain way and could only say certain things. It’s impossible – the amount of computer power that would be required for a computer doesn’t have enough space for that sort of thing yet.”

“Huh.” Livio blinked again. “So, you guys are advanced, but human? Basically?”

“Basically,” Maria replied dryly. She sighed through her nose and shook her head. “But that’s not going to matter if we don’t win against Knives. We need to be ready – for anything he could throw at us.”

Livio nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I don’t think Vash is going to want you to get involved this, though – not in his battle against Knives directly.”

“I know. But I’m going to have to do something, or else I’m going to go _mad.”_ Maria huffed. “I’m going to keep walking around here. Hopefully I’ll be able to clear my head and think of something to do before he gets here.”

Livio gained a determined look. “Good luck with that.”

“Thanks.” Maria started to turn and walk away, then paused and looked back at Livio. “And good luck against that Crimson Nail woman.”

Livio nodded in response.


	28. Spectators

Maria was sitting on the roof of the mayor’s mansion when morning finally broke. She closed her eyes and breathed in as the light of the suns shone off her armor. The heat, on the other hand, was immediately sucked inside, creating a warm feeling in her chest that was growing steadily warmer.

Storing energy was all that she had been doing ever since she’d arrived on this planet, minus the occasional moment when she had to make use of a portion to keep safe those who were near her.

She knew that energy – _all_ of that energy – was going to be put to good use very soon.

Knives’ ship looked like a dragon without legs. Large, plant-made wings stretched out from side to side, with smaller, similar formations branching out from certain points as the ark crumbled, but the pieces that were decaying from it somehow stayed aloft. The beast’s “head” looked large and imposing, even from a distance as it approached the city. The body…well, it had the same sort of appearance as a normal Plant – a naked form, with extra bits hanging off that looked like they could have been the start of legs…or something else.

Maria rose to her feet on the roof of the manor and looked up at the ark.

_Knives…_

Her core thrummed quietly with the amount of energy she was holding – she hadn’t felt this kind of a reaction in the past, but considering that she had been holding back on using her power for so long, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that eventually there was going to be a need to do _something_.

“All right, you big idiot,” Maria muttered. “Do you _really_ think you can get away with—“

Something shifted in the air, and the entire ark – Knives’ entire _being_ – vanished from sight.

 **“Primus!”** Maria swore loudly. Her voice sounded like screeching metal as something shifted above their heads – and above the crashed remains of the colony ship Octovern had built itself around. “You really think that you can just shift into the space between dimensions and not go unnoticed by the multiverse, _boy?!”_

As Knives seemingly rematerialized above the city, immediately blotting out the sun, an explosion went off in the desert, about where he had been a second ago. A trail of smoke and quickly fading light led up somewhere beyond the atmosphere, indicating that something had crashed into the planet’s surface.

_The Earth fleet. He detected—_

The people down in the city below started shooting up at the sky, roaring in fear and false bravery at the sight of the enemy of mankind. Maria knew the bullets wouldn’t reach him, but felt like she was in the same boat that they were.

They _had_ to do something against Knives. No way was Vash going to face him alone.

A loud humming noise filled the air suddenly, and Maria looked up at the sound.

It was coming from the remains of the colony ship.

The Plants.

Maria turned and looked upwards, her core thrumming as well. Something attempted to press up against her mind, but the blade-like presence merely slid past.

Maria threw a memory at the presence of a cold metal cube attached to the back of her neck, of tall, dark alien beings with horns with red eyes standing on the other side of the connection, holding unseen puppet strings.

_Don’t think that humans are the most dangerous, Knives._

The presence withdrew almost immediately.

**::Citizens, I beseech you! It is very dangerous to fire straight into the air! Please, stop immediately!::**

Maria huffed and folded her arms across her chest. “It’s good that they noticed; I don’t think they would have liked to have dealt with self-inflicted wounds on this day of all—“

She cut herself off when an explosion of space distortions hit the sky above.

Maria looked up sharply, and her eyes widened when she caught sight of what was happening above.

Near the head of the monster that was keeping Knives’ little ark afloat, a series of what looked like miniature galaxy-like black hole orbs had opened up, hitting around the creature and causing small disruptions in space.

“Vash, what are you doing up there?” Maria muttered, frowning.

The humming stopped.

To Maria, it almost felt like time had frozen in place. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up at the sky with a focused gaze.

And then the galaxy explosions _really_ started to make themselves known as Knives sent multiple shots towards Vash.

The explosion of energy that followed caused an explosion that made it hard to see the top of the colony ship remains for a moment. But Maria kept her gaze there.

“So, that is what your power finally becomes,” Maria commented. “Black hole rips in space and time, leading somewhere – but where? I doubt even the two of you know.”

“Maria!”

Maria looked over at the shout and caught sight of Jolt standing at the base of the manor.

“They’ve found a frequency to use to speak to them with technology,” Jolt said. “We told them about the telepathic contact, and they’ve been able to reach out from there.”

Maria’s eyes widened. “And?”

“They’re learning the truth – about Knives, and about the other spaces between dimensions.” Jolt grinned. “I’m going to be heading back to make sure nothing goes wrong. Watch Knives.”

Maria nodded and gave a thumbs-up as Jolt disappeared from sight, and she looked up at the fight that had begun between Knives and Vash, the two trading black hole blows.

And then…it paused.

And Knives’ presence – the blade against Maria’s consciousness that she had felt before – brushed against hers again.

And Maria threw herself _wide open._

“This is my shot.”

On the other side of the probing consciousness, Knives was suddenly hit with a _wave_ of memories that caused him to flinch back while Vash watched with a dark, serious expression that matched the near-blackness of his hair.

“Maria said you’d probably find her,” Vash said, a slight, knowing glint in his eye.

Knives’ position fumbled in the air for a moment as sweat crossed brow. “Wh-what is this?! This mind, it—“

“She may as well be a Plant, even if she isn’t one,” Vash replied.

Maria’s memories were many, and carried with them tales of worlds beyond No Man’s Land – worlds where humans _thrived,_ fought against each other, worked with each other, and allied themselves with beings that existed on other planets – beings who _liked_ humans, despite their unlikeable nature.

But he saw Maria in all these as well. Knives saw her be human first – and then not, and subjugated to a myriad of events as a result.

He pulled back, drew away from her mind sharply as humans attempted to fire on his fused form from below, only to fall short and fail as smoke drifted between himself and their large guns, manned without Plants involved. A part of him was reeling from the amount of information that had just been pushed into his mind.

This human – no, drone – no, _Reploid_ – had been harmed and pushed away by humans, but still insisted on helping them? Still insisted that they should be kept _alive_ despite everything that they had done?

It made no sense. There must have been a mistake made in her programming.

And yet…

He needed to think about this.

“Legato!”

Maria watched from below as the large dragon-like head-monster of the fused Plant pulled back and a smaller figure leapt forward in his place.

At the same time, something started coming down from the atmosphere.

A ship. A _large_ ship.

An _Earth_ ship.

“We’ve got company!” Maria barked loudly.

Things were escalating far more quickly than Maria had been expecting them to, and she didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

She could hear cries of alarm and fear coming up from the city as the large space ship descended over the top of the remains of the colony ship that had crashed here over a hundred years ago by the locals’ count.

Maria’s core continued to thrum as her systems instinctively reached out for contact with the other ship. Energy levels were high, and while she needed to do something she also needed to make sure she had enough left in her for whatever it was that was coming.

The systems made a connection, and Maria quickly sent up a message.

_::This is Flare-Up, watching this from the ground!::_

The response came a couple seconds later, even as Knives slowly turned his attention to the ship above them. _::This is Chronica. What are you observing?::_

Maria switched from responding internally to verbally. “The two Plants Vash and Knives have been going at each other since the start of this, but it looks like Knives’ attention has shifted and he’s sent one of his cronies after Vash in his place. Probably because he brushed against my mind and has a lot to think about at the moment. According to what I know of Vash’s plan, he has been going on the defensive and trying to convince his brother to _stop,_ so that no one else dies.”

_::That sort of thinking is foolish::_

“Yes, but it’s _saved_ him and many others before; I don’t see why he has to stop now.” Maria’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “He’s been doing this for over a century, from what I understand, and he’s not about to stop it now.”

Something started humming in the ship above as gunshots rang out faintly from the platform Vash and Legato were fighting on.

_::We’ll decide whether or not that line of action will get him anywhere::_

The Earth ship started firing immediately on Knives, and his large, fused form moved to block the attack with an unseen energy shield as Maria watched.

Maria gritted her teeth as the connection was cut off from the ship’s end. Whoever this Chronica was, Maria got the feeling that she liked cold logic more than interacting with people.

“If Shockwave was still around I bet that you two would have gotten along better than the rest of us,” Maria muttered. “Thank Primus he isn’t.”

Something nagged her at the back of her mind, but Maria didn’t put any focus into following whatever train of thought was trying to make itself known. Not yet.

She was too busy watching the fire fight between Knives defending himself and the ship above their heads.

“Come on, come on,” Maria muttered. “I know you want things to go a certain way but I’m not gonna have it. I’m getting involved whether you like it or not!”

“Maria! Get down from there you stubborn kid!”

“I’m not a kid any more than you are!” Maria barked back at Wildfire, not taking her gaze off the fight above. “What’s going on?”

“Some guys from the ship up there snuck down! They want to talk to you!”

Maria looked down at that and caught sight of Wildfire’s Pretender form standing in front of the mansion. With her was a man with balding hair, a beaked nose, and glasses.

Maria eyed him for a moment, then leapt down. The ground cracked under her feet as she landed. “What’s going on?”

The man blinked a couple times in surprise, then pushed his glasses up as he gained a more serious expression. “My name is Panse. Am I to understand that you are Scout Flare-Up?”

“Yes, although my proper title is World Jumper.” Maria folded her arms across her chest. “You snuck down here because you want to figure out a way to stop what’s going on, right?”

Panse nodded. “As Vash is…currently indisposed, as I understand it, you were our next alternative. Do you have anything in your arsenal that Knives would not expect?”

“Considering I haven’t made a move at all yet, I could pull pretty much anything and it would catch him by surprise. But he _is_ aware of me, considering he has not only brushed my consciousness but also killed Spark.” Maria’s eyes narrowed. “But that happened several months ago.”

Panse looked startled at that. “…I see. That does not bode well. If he is aware of your presence and has already ended the life of one of you—“

“As far as I am aware, Spark was damaged in the crash and Knives used him for the data he had, not as some sort of weapon. He didn’t know what Joshua was capable of.” Maria’s expression remained serious. “He knows I can use fire, but he doesn’t know how far I can push myself if I need to. And something tells me that I might have to, but I’m not sure what event is going to push things that far forward yet. Vash asked that we stay out of his fight with Knives, and that’s why I’m still down here and not up there.” She nodded up to the fight above that was still taking place.

“How can you tell that is where he is?” Panse asked.

“A sixth sense. As a World Jumper, I am aware when large events are taking place in a dimension. At first, I only identified them as visions, but now I’m more aware of what exactly they are.” Maria looked up at the fight above their heads again. “And the battle over the fate of this dimension is taking place up there, where Vash has positioned himself.”

Explosions started going off above as the ship attacked again, but then Knives retaliated. Maria could see parts of the ship above starting to fall off, careening towards the city around them as the Earth ship listed to one side.

“…we don’t have much time.” Maria activated her hoverboard and stepped on. The nagging feeling at the back of her mind was becoming more insistent with each passing second. “Something’s going wrong.”

“How wrong?” Wildfire responded.

“Watch Knives.”

The fused wings of the Plant were flapping wildly as parts of the ship fell. It looked like he was being pulled in two different directions. The ship, on the other hand, was moving off, away from the fight, Knives, and the city they were standing in.

“He’s losing control of himself.” Maria crouched down on her hoverboard slightly. “Jolt said you found a way to get into contact with them? You’ve reached the ones up _there_ too somehow! I knew that Knives getting to look through my memories would throw him off some, but this is too much! He’s going to fall apart and Vash isn’t—“

The snarling growl of frustration that came from Maria caused Panse to close his mouth before he could even offer a question.

“This is what I am needed for,” Maria said. “This. I have changed things – _we_ have changed things – enough that when Knives falls, this world will fall.”

“Maria—“

Maria looked at Wildfire, cutting the Cybertronian off. There was a small smile on Maria’s face, but it was almost unnoticeable. Her eyes were soft.

“I’m sorry,” Maria said. “I have to use Joshua’s Last Resort.”

Fire started to gather on Maria’s armor, quickly turning from red-orange to bright white to a red-white as her body was covered in it. She shot up towards the battle that was taking place above at a speed that should have been impossible for her under normal circumstances.

“Kid….” Wildfire sounded like she was trying to warn and mourn at the same time. “Why do you have to do this every _single_ damn time and end up nearly killing yourself?”

“What?” Panse looked at Wildfire sharply.

The white star that was Maria shot up into the air. Pieces of metal started to rain down from the sky in her wake – partially melted red and orange armor, the remains of circuits.

“Maria likes going suicidal to the point that she nearly kills herself. Joshua could hold her back, but without him here—“ Wildfire gritted her teeth. “Damnit, Maria! That move really _is_ going to kill you!”


	29. Last Resort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not an April Fools' chapter! Although Maria does pull something....unknowingly...

****

**Chapter 29 – Last Resort**

Legato lay bleeding out at Vash’s feet, his hair having gone nearly completely black as he held the cable at his neck, mentally screaming at his brother as the Plants that had been fused together started to come apart.

Meryl and Millie stood behind him, but unseen by Knives.

Something had gone wrong, Vash could feel it. This was all happening too fast – the Earth fleet was moving into position to do something deadly, even as Knives flailed around and attempted to hold himself together. Even without the cable, Vash could hear them screaming, hear his sisters telling Knives to _stop,_ that violence wouldn’t solve what it was that he wanted, despite everything he had done up until now.

Knives was losing himself, and his life along with it.

Vash was about to call out, give up the last of his strength, when something _bright_ and _searing_ and _warm_ burst up from the city below, arms outstretched towards himself and Knives.

The figure looked vaguely humanoid, red, and orange and white fire being the only thing that made up their form. It looked like some of the fire was shifted into something that looked like hair, and in the center of the chest was a brightly glowing, sky blue sphere that pulsed like a heart.

Vash’s eyes widened sharply. _Maria?!_

He felt the campfire presence again that he’d sensed in the Dragon’s Nest Fortress, when she’d shared her own past with him – when he’d quickly understood that Maria was more than just what she portrayed herself to be.

_\--As a World Jumper, I am ordered to bring balance to universes. Allow me to bring balance here—_

Knives’ presence – all sharp edges, but sluggish in movement – shifted at Maria’s words as he turned his head to look at her. Black was starting to take his hair too, as the last of the fused Plants came apart and fell gently back to the planet’s surface.

_\--We need **both** of you—_

The fiery being that was Maria looked at Vash, and Vash couldn’t help but feel like she was almost… _apologizing._

And then her form flashed with bright blue-white-red-orange energy, and Vash and Knives were both slammed with a shockwave of pure power that forced Vash to drop the cable.

“Gah!” Vash shifted his feet, trying to keep his balance as the energy hit him, but didn’t _harm_ him. Instead, he felt it leaking _into_ him, his body absorbing it.

_\--You use portals for your power. I create portals. Take what I have—_

Vash looked up. The figure looked smaller now – there was less fire surrounding Maria – and her face was visible in the flames.

But…Vash couldn’t see _all_ of the figure he had grown familiar with seeing.

_Maria – what have you done?!_

Maria looked away and bowed her head. _–What must be done—_

Vash paled, even as he felt the energy rushing back into him – energy that he _knew_ he had used up, creating the bullets that had neutralized Knives’ attacks and during his fight against Legato and over the course of his journey. Maria – she was—

The head was thrown back, and Maria let out a final, loud shriek as her entire form went up in flames and dissipated completely.

The last of the fire entered Vash, and he stumbled back at the extra punch it sent into him.

Knives’ form started to fall, losing feathers, but then a large metal hand suddenly came up and grabbed him as Wildfire’s Cybertronian form came up, one hand gripping the crashed colony ship.

Wildfire’s hand moved over and slid Knives off and onto the platform, and Vash noticed the change instantly.

Any indication that Knives had fused was gone. The streak of black hair was still there, lightning-bolt shaped in design, but he was…whole. He wasn’t going into his Final Run state.

And Vash…didn’t feel like he had just used up _his_ energy to the point of a Final Run, either. It was strange.

It was _unnerving._

“She didn’t have to push herself,” Wildfire grumbled as the Earth ships stopped moving above them. She sounded irritated and angry. “Soundwave, tell them to call the whole damn thing off. Things’re handled. Maria’s…Maria put a stop to it.”

“And gave him his energy back!” Panse yelled angrily from Wildfire’s shoulder. He was clinging there in a way that it looked like he could slide off any second. “He’s going to start this all over—“

“Don’t be so sure,” Wildfire replied. “Maria’s got… _had_ some weird things to her.” Her face flickered with something else for a moment, but then her expression became guarded and cold. “I’m heading back down. Want to go down the fast way or—“

“Slow’s…slow’s fine,” Vash said, sounding shaken.

Wildfire considered them for a moment, then nodded and disappeared from sight. Vash could hear metal scraping and felt the crashed ship sway as she slid down and out of sight.

Millie moved out of her and Meryl’s hiding place and over to where Knives lay, looking not-quite conscious. She started to reach out, intending to pick him up.

Vash _very quickly_ moved between them. “It’s probably better if I—“

Millie sent him a look. “You look like you’re about to fall asleep on your feet, Vash-san. I can carry him; it’s okay. I’m strong enough.”

“It…it’s not your body that I’m worried about.” Vash could have protested further, but he let Millie pick his brother up anyway. He didn’t offer a reaction when Millie didn’t flinch, and when Knives didn’t seem to respond to being picked up.

Meryl sent a pointed look in Vash’s direction before motioning with her head towards the open hatch.

The climb down was long and exhausting – both because of what they had just managed to accomplish and because of the exhaustion that was starting to settle on Vash.

He felt like he needed to sleep, but he didn’t know if he would be able to.

**Time Break**

The next few days were…hectic, to say the least.

First Aid – the Cybertronians’ medic – stole Knives away at the earliest opportunity, setting the Earth forces into a tizzy when they tried to find him themselves. The Cybertronians had refused to release him into Earth custody – or Wolfwood and Midvalley for that matter.

No one asked Vash why it was that he had the yellow back in his hair, but he could tell that they wanted to ask and they could tell he didn’t want to answer. The looks exchanged were more than enough for that.

At least, enough for everyone but his sister from Earth, Chronica.

“What that scout did was not only unexpected, it was a power that was _unreported,_ ” Chronica said shortly. “Do you have any explanation for what occurred?”

Vash gave her a tired look from where he sat on his borrowed bed. “As far as I can tell, it was an energy transfer. I don’t know how she managed to carry that much power in her – Maria was older than the both of us _combined.”_

“As she came with the colony ships, I assume you mean that—“

“According to her records and what she told me, she was born in AD 1996 on Earth,” Vash said flatly. “Don’t make her younger than she was.”

Chronica shut up at that, blinking. “Impossible.”

Vash shrugged. “World Jumpers seem to be capable of that a lot of the time.”

“World Jumpers are impossible—“

Vash shut out Chronica’s tirade as he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. He would have reached out mentally and shown her otherwise, but when he’d tried that last time he’d been met with a chrome steel wall and been thrown through a number of physicals from the Earth doctors. It had taken Luida _and_ Meryl _and_ Millie and a number of others talking the Earthlings down to assure them that he hadn’t been looking to fuse.

Panse had been the loudest voice of them, but now the short man wouldn’t look Vash in the eye for whatever reason.

Something smacked him in the face, shaking him out of his thoughts as he looked at Chronica sharply.

The woman looked annoyed with him. “You need to become more aware of the chain of command here. I am aware that you have spent over the last century traveling on your own, but with our arrival, there are some things that are going to be changing.”

Vash waved her glare off, which only made her appear to be even more annoyed. “You can try. But we’ve been living on No Man’s Land without your help for a long time. Change isn’t going to come easy when most of the populace is armed to the teeth and then some. You didn’t see how hard it was for me to try and help people first-hand.”

Chronica looked like she was about to say something else, her annoyance rising, but then she pulled herself back and huffed. “Perhaps it would be easier if you collaborated with us? You do realize that the people on this planet see you in a better light than before.”

They did. A day after the fused Plants had dissolved themselves, and the people had still been partying even as they were helping the Plants get back to a place they could come and go from this dimension safely.

But Vash hadn’t gone out and talked with them. He still felt tired after everything that had happened, and had hardly left his room other than for food and hearing updates from Wildfire and Jolt about Knives’ and Wolfwood’s conditions.

Wolfwood was awake, but not ready for visitors yet. His wounds were too terrible yet – all the internal damage that he had suffered over the years. First Aid was working on fixing it.

And Knives…was awake, but didn’t _want_ visitors. Not yet.

“…I guess you could say I’m not used to that kind of attention,” Vash admitted. “Look, I’ve still got a lot on my mind – would you mind if you just…?”

Chronica got the message, but she didn’t look like she was too happy about it. She turned and walked out of the room without another word.

**Change in POV**

Knives looked up at the dual suns and the Earth ships hanging in the air and clicked his tongue in annoyance. “I don’t see why I should still be living when my plan failed.”

“Maria had her reasons,” came the voice of one of the Cybertronians behind him. Sparkseer, Knives remembered. “But I doubt we will ever know why she decided to do such a thing.”

Knives snorted derisively. “No; _you_ know. You just don’t want to tell me.”

“What gives you that impression?”

Knives turned and looked up at the Cybertronian – the dark blue armor, that large spear of a staff made of golden metal. “You give off the impression you know more than you seem.”

“That may be, but Maria can be quite an enigma when she wants to be,” Sparkseer said. “That’s the good thing about people like her. They can be unpredictable, and that keeps opponents from knowing what it is that World Jumpers are going to do in a given moment. True, some moves are predictable, but not all.” He sighed and shook his head. “It is a shame we could not find all of her parts. She would have done well with a proper hero’s burial on Cybertron.”

Knives considered what he had gleaned from Maria’s memories and said nothing. He felt tired, but not physically. This world had shown him two different sides of dark and light to humankind, but he had seen the darkness first.

Knowing that there were possibly creatures that lived out there who were worse than humans…he wasn’t sure what to think of it.

He _also_ wasn’t sure of what to think of the Cybertronians, why they were keeping him alive, and why he hadn’t been turned over to the Earthlings.

Something glimmered in the sand and just out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, frowning, then walked towards it.

He knelt down and dusted the sand away and blinked in surprise at what he saw.

A bright blue, spherical crystal was nestled into the sand. It was as wide across as his hand, and large enough to sit in his entire hand comfortably. The fact that its surface seemed to move and shift like moving water caught his attention the most.

Curious.

Knives reached out and picked up the crystal—

\--and was instantly mentally _assaulted_ by the feeling of fire as something in the crystal lashed out.

He nearly dropped the crystal, cursing loudly as the presence pulled back into something that felt similar to a small bundle of material that had been set on fire. When the feeling pulled back, Knives moved the crystal closer to his face so that he could inspect it.

So, it decided to prod him mentally, did he? He decided to do the same in turn.

_\--Lemme sleep, idiot. ‘M not ready yet—_

Knives blinked in surprise. “Alien.”

Sparkseer shifted a little where he sat on the sand near the shuttle’s opening. “What have you –“

The Cybertronian was over Knives in an instant, looking down – not at him, but at the crystal in Knives’ hand.

“By the AllSpark,” Sparkseer said faintly. “Is she—“

“She?” Knives looked down at the crystal, then back at Sparkseer questioningly. When he saw the look in Sparkseer’s optics, his own eyes widened. “You can’t mean—“

“If the crystal glows, that means her soul is still staked to this plane of existence.” Sparkseer’s optics sparked with a brighter blue. “Come – I believe she will want a proper body to wake up in when she has gathered herself again.”

“And where are you going to find such a—“

“Who said we were going to implant her in someone else?” Sparkseer raised an optic ridge.


	30. Recovery

“Vash! There you are!”

Vash looked up from his meager breakfast and blinked when he saw Wildfire approach. “Oh, uh, hey.”

It was strange to see Wildfire with a wide grin on her face like that. He wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“…what is it?” Vash asked cautiously.

“There’s something happening at the shuttle that I think you’re going to want to see,” Wildfire replied. “Come on.”

Vash frowned. “What are you—“

“It’s not something I’m gonna talk about in the open.” Wildfire tapped Vash on the shoulder. “Meet me at the shuttle entrance.”

And with that, she slipped out of the soup kitchen.

Vash blinked a couple times. He felt the eyes of others settle on him, but he was used to that. He ignored it as he finished his breakfast and, against his better judgement, cautiously followed Wildfire to where the shuttle had been moved after everything had settled.

There weren’t any Earth soldiers watching the shuttle when he reached it, but there was a circle of glass around the shuttle. Wildfire must have done something in order to prove a point and let loose a little. According to what he knew, she and Maria had been close for a long time, so finding a way to get some of her anger out made sense.

And apparently, the showing of a Cybertronian’s power – along with whatever diplomatic immunity they had – was enough to keep the Earthlings from getting close. For now, anyway.

Wildfire was waiting at the entrance into the shuttle, leaning against one wall with a knowing look in her eyes. “It’s this way.” She motioned with her head for him to follow her, and she moved into the shuttle.

Vash followed after her and slid along the gangplank as the doorway was closed up behind him. “What’s going on? Can Wolfwood—“

“Yeah, and he’s been absolutely dying to talk to you and hear about what happened.” Wildfire paused, then added, “Not literally dying. First Aid has insisted that he remain in a wheelchair for now, though.”

Vash blinked. “And he’s actually staying there?”

“It’s either that or get knocked over the head with a wrench.” Wildfire laughed when she saw the startled look on Vash’s face. “First Aid learned her bedside manner from the best doctor on Cybertron – you keep them in place by threatening to _make sure_ they stay put!”

“…if that works,” Vash replied cautiously.

“For us, it does.” Wildfire snorted.

Wildfire stopped in front of a door and pushed the activation key, then motioned for Vash to move in ahead of her.

“So, is Wolfwood….”

Vash trailed off as he entered a part of the shuttle he hadn’t set foot in before. Mechanical parts hung from the ceiling on cables; tools both human-made and not covered the walls.

And on a metal table in the middle of the room, chest cavity open and empty, was an in-progress build of what looked like Maria’s mechanical body.

Knives looked over and away from a blue spherical crystal floating in a cylinder containing a glowing blue chemical bath of some kind. Vash frowned. Was one of his eyes glowing bright blue? That wasn’t normal.

“Hey,” said Wolfwood from a wheelchair on the other side of the room. There was an IV in his arm and his legs were covered in a blanket, but he looked better than Vash had been expecting. “It’d good ta see ya got some yellow back, broomhead.”

Vash wasn’t thinking about how the black only existed as an underlayer at the back of his head now. “What is this?”

“Why don’t you come over here and find out?” Knives’ normal eye had a smug ‘I know something that you don’t’ expression.

The crystal in the chemical bath flashed in time with Knives’ other eye. He looked annoyed for a second, but then he schooled his expression into something more unreadable.

Vash frowned, looking at his brother cautiously. He looked over at Wildfire, who was now standing at the feet of the in-progress Maria copy. “Did he put you up to this?”

Wildfire shook her head. “He found her. Sparkseer confirmed it.” She nodded to the crystal sphere next to Knives.

Vash’s eyes widened, and he looked at the crystal again. His surprise was quickly schooled into a serious expression, and he walked over to get a closer look.

The crystal was an almost sky blue, but that was hard to tell from the blue of the chemical bath it was floating in. At least, Vash _assumed_ it was a chemical bath. It looked like there was…something pulsing inside the crystal, turning it slightly green with each pulse.

Pulsing like a heartbeat, in fact.

“How?”

“If she wasn’t so low on energy, I would be asking her how she is still here myself,” Knives replied, sounding annoyed.

Vash looked at him sharply, then back at the crystal. He put his hand to the glass, and carefully nudged his presence forward.

The weak presence of a campfire hit his own feather-light presence in seconds.

_Maria?_

The fire felt sluggish, if that was possible. _–Mmm. Feathernest. Let me sleep.—_

Feathernest?

Vash raised an eyebrow at the new nickname, but decided to withdraw at her request. He sent her a feeling of relief – that she was alive, that she was technically in one piece – and then pulled his fingers back.

 _\--Take the Idiot with you—_ Maria added before Vash’s fingertips pulled away.

Knives huffed and rolled his eyes as he pulled his hand back before Vash could grab his wrist.

“’The Idiot’?” Vash raised an eyebrow at him.

Knives muttered something about not having gloves, and Vash got the message to let the subject drop.

“How is she still here?’ Vash turned to look at the others in the room.

“She’s still needed,” called Sparkseer from one corner, in his Pretender form with dark hair and blue robes. “As much as she asks for rest, the Multiverse still intends to use its champion. In what sort of event, I cannot say. Joshua was the one who had future sight, centuries ago. I do not know if he foresaw this.”

Knives shifted slightly, but he said nothing.

“So, you…how soon?” Vash looked down at the copy of Maria’s body on the table and now understood why the chest cavity was open, revealing a circular shape sitting in the midst of circuitry leading out from the center.

“She needs time,” Jolt replied from where he stood near a computer terminal. “Considering how much energy the two of you used and how much she gave back, it’s going to be a long time before she’s ready to be put back in action again. As for how long, it’s…mostly up to her.” He looked over at the crystal sphere – Maria’s _soul_ – as it floated in the chemical bath. “I’m leaving her in Energon to see if I can speed up the process some, but I’m not sure how much time is going to be shaved off.”

Vash nodded. “Energon?”

“What we eat, basically.” Jolt shrugged. “Maria can live off it too, if she wants to. But if right now she wants to sleep…well, I can just _hope_ osmosis works, but that’s it.”

“We can be patient.” Vash looked at Knives, then at Maria. “We’ve been around for a long time.”

“I haven’t,” Wolfwood said with an annoyed tone in his voice. He drummed his fingers against the armrests. “And I’d like to get moving again.”

“Do you want First Aid –“

Wolfwood growled a little as he sank in his seat, but he didn’t say anything else on the matter of moving around.

Vash chuckled nervously, then looked over at Wildfire. “Does anyone else know about this?”

Wildfire shook her head. “We don’t know how fast word’s gonna get out about this. Maria might not wake up in the lifetime of the present generation for all we know. Getting their hopes up about this might not be the best idea.”

Vash nodded. “So, under wraps?”

“That’s the plan. Soundwave’s working on getting communications to Cybertron set up again, but it’s going to take some time. We’re going to be staying here for a while in the meantime.”

“What are you planning on doing about the people from Earth?”

Knives looked at Vash sharply at that.

“They…they aren’t going to be leaving,” Vash added. “I don’t think things are going to be very friendly between us and them for very long.”

Sparkseer hummed darkly and nodded in agreement. “Yes; the aura of this place suggests that there will be conflict soon. I worry for what could end up coming.”

“I’ll try to do what I can to…keep things quiet, I guess,” Vash said. “Problem is, I’m not sure _how_ – I haven’t dealt with…people who actually look up to me. Not this many, anyway.”

“Ask the girls for help,” Wolfwood suggested. He paused. “Crybaby Livio too, if he’s still around.”

“I saw him a few hours ago….” Vash made a face. “I’m not sure what’s gonna happen, but I can try. Chronica is the one I’m worried about the most, though.”

“Yes, the Plant from Earth.” Sparkseer nodded. “I have…spoken with her. She is quite strict, but I believe she means well.”

“Means well and actually follows through on what’s good for everybody are two different things,” Wildfire pointed out. _“Not telling the difference_ nearly cost _us_ our planet thousands of Earth years ago. I’m not about to let that happen again.”

“Neither am I,” Sparkseer replied. “It seems you have our assistance as well, Vash.”

Vash blinked a couple times in surprise, then nodded, smiling a little. “Thanks. Something tells me that I’m going to need all the help I can get!”

**Time Break**

It turned out that Vash did need all the help he could get.

Chronica thought it was odd that he was suddenly paying more attention to what was going on between Earth and No Man’s Land – which the Earthlings had renamed “Gunsmoke” for reasons that none of the natives understood. Something about an ancient show that was before the time of anyone who was presently alive – including Maria. Regardless, it seemed that the Earthlings were there to stay, whether everyone else liked it or not. Chronica certainly didn’t seem too happy about it, but that was mostly because of how chaotic the world was already.

Vash understood that there was a need for order, but he knew that people here had been without a lot of it for a long time. So, he turned to the one way of fighting he was neither very good at, nor had any experience in.

Political talk.

At least Sparkseer was able to tell him how people around him felt and suggest words he could use in order to get his point across without angering anybody. Still, actively working with people who had once wanted his head felt _weird._

And then there was the matter of Knives.

The Earthlings wanted to take him out because he was a dangerous Plant who had nearly wiped out an entire planet and would have been more than happy to go on to other planets with human colonies and take them out too. Vash understood this, but Knives had only seemed more reserved than before when he’d talked with him. He wasn’t releasing a “killer’s intent,” as Wildfire called the aura, and he wasn’t talking about humans were terrible slave masters bent on destroying the entire Plant race.

He seemed more content with keeping an eye on Maria’s soul as she hibernated, never getting into contact with her, but at the same time being near _enough_ that he could sense whether or not she was being active.

Sparkseer and Jolt had both spent time talking with him, and they mentioned that Knives wasn’t up for pursuing what he had done before. Vash hoped that was the truth, because otherwise this whole business was just going to start all over again and he really didn’t think that Meryl and Millie and Wolfwood and Livio would have appreciated that very much. They just got their peace, don’t make the war start up again.

…besides, he and Knives were only now being able to talk things out. About Tesla, about humans, and about how misunderstandings can add up drastically over many centuries. Adding that to the fact that Knives felt a part of his power had been _blocked_ , and Vash was able to come to his own conclusion about the matter.

So as far as Vash was concerned, Knives as he was _now_ wasn’t a problem.

It was the fact that he had committed what basically amounted to serial killings and murder on a mass scale that was the problem. He wasn’t going to be able to get away from that, and the Earthlings definitely wanted to make sure that he got due justice for it. Vash didn’t think that capital punishment was the best idea – if the death penalty was supposed to teach _Knives_ a lesson and keep him from doing it again, killing him was just the easy way out.

And besides, Vash didn’t like the idea of killing anyone _at all._ So he’d rather be without that, and he was sure Knives would appreciate getting away from all this with at least his life to his name.

“Maria would probably suggest exile from everything potential dangerous and leave him out in the desert with only basic supplies,” Sparkseer said while Vash gnawed on a pen, looking over a stack of papers Chronica had given him. He’d asked about Earth laws – because he had all of Gunsmoke’s memorized – and the stack of papers was tall enough that it filled up his room, now in the Cybertronian shuttle and not near everyone else.

“But even that would be somewhat cruel because he would run out of supplies at some point,” Vash pointed out. “We’d have to give him enough to be self-sufficient. Seeds, basic equipment to create a small farm –“

“You are thinking of things in a way that would suggest that humans would be that kind,” Sparkseer responded. “Remember – they can be unknowingly cruel as well as purposefully, just like any other species.”

Vash made a noise of annoyance. “I wish they weren’t.”

“We wish a lot of things, but not everything can take place as we want them to. You are going to have to find a compromise if you want to keep your brother alive, and sending him back with us to Cybertron will only make our relationship with Earth and its colonies even more strenuous than it already is.” Sparkseer shook his head. “Optimus Prime had hoped this would help us keep our allies, but now I’m not so sure….”

“We’ll think of something,” Vash said. “There has to be something that we haven’t thought of yet.”

“There always is,” Sparkseer replied with a knowing nod.

“Yeah. Say, can you help me with understanding some of these laws? The language isn’t as plain as it should be.”


	31. Splitting Up

The Earth folk eventually – _eventually_ – left the locals alone. It took some time – well over a year – but after they had built up a few bio-domes and given them more technology to work with, the military’s numbers decreased – but not by much.

Chronica stayed on the surface. Livio said she claimed she wanted to keep an eye on how things went, but he figured that she just wanted to keep an eye on Vash and the Cybertronians. And Knives.

Knives’ situation…

Vash sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Well, Knives was _alive,_ and that was a good thing. The tricky thing was that he was almost always under surveillance, which meant that he couldn’t help them with getting Maria to wake up anytime soon.

Or, at the very least, _communicate._ Her soul had been remaining resolutely silent for the entire time that she had been floating in Energon. Jolt _said_ she was absorbing the energy, but she wasn’t at the strength she needed to be in order to jumpstart a robotic body.

At least the Earth folks hadn’t learned about her. Yet. With how much Chronica was attempting to investigate the Cybertronians and find out more about them – what their connection was to Vash, what they were doing while they had helped Wolfwood get back on his feet – it probably wasn’t going to be long before she found out that the World Jumper was, in some form, still active.

If you could call her _hibernating_ “active.”

Wolfwood plopped down next to Vash. He was definitely looking better than he had been immediately after Knives’ plan had been stopped. “What’s going through your head, Spiky?”

Vash sighed. “Everything.”

“Oof. Sounds like you need a drink.” Wolfwood nudged a bottle of beer at him. “Town’s nearly cleared out into that bio-whatever. Just stubborn folks left. Old folks, outlaws.”

“And us.” Vash raised an eyebrow at Wolfwood. “You know, you could go in there. Livio too.”

“Nah. Doesn’t feel right.” Wolfwood shook his head, then took a swig of his own beer. “I’m gonna die under the hot suns, not in some cush little cage that’s supposed ‘ta be a little Earth copy.” He gave Vash a narrow-eyed expression. “An’ I mean of old age, since things have gone sideways most places.”

Vash decided not to comment on that and took a swig of his bottle of beer. He knew this stuff was going to buzz him easily, but he didn’t want to leave Wolfwood out. “So, what are you and Livio going to do?”

“Go back to the orphanage. See if maybe we could use that to help lesser folk who aren’t able to get into those domes. It’s gonna happen, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.” Vash sighed. “They’re trying to make things better, but it could end up making things worse. I’d talk to them, but—“

“Luida’s got the political jargon handled,” Wolfwood finished. “Yeah, I figured it wasn’t your strong suit.”

“At least she’s got people to count on to take over the further things go on.” Vash sighed again. “Honestly, I…I wish I could do more, but I’m not used to – to _this_ kind of a fight. Using words.”

“Yeah. Give me a gun any day of the week and we can settle differences. Words? Not so much.”

“At least the Cybertronians were able to help with _some_ of it. They know how Earth works. Just wish it wasn’t so complicated.”

“You and me both,” Wolfwood agreed. He went to take another swig of his beer, but found the bottle empty. Vash looked at his and found his empty too.

Well, that explained why his head felt like it was buzzing.

“Hey. You got any idea when that hag’s gonna be up again?”

Vash shrugged at the question. “No clue. Jolt said we just gotta wait.”

“Waiting is boring.”

“You said it.”

The two of them clinked their empty bottles together.

“So, what now?” Wolfwood looked at Vash. “For you, I mean. I know what I’m gonna do, but you?”

Vash shrugged. “Start wandering again, probably. They’re taking Maria back to Cybertron, an’ they probably don’t need me here anymore.”

“Well, wherever you end up goin,’ I wish ya good luck. An’ don’t die.” Wolfwood fixed Vash with a pointed look. “Come by the orphanage sometime. The kids would love ya.”

“I’m sure they will.” Vash nodded. He got to his feet, then started to move out of the soup kitchen.

Octovern had become a near ghost town. Considering that it was one of the last great cities that had been left standing – and the site of the final battle between Knives and the remaining pieces of humanity on the planet – one would have thought people would have flocked there.

But since there was a bio-dome going up on another part of the world, the people who could afford it were clearing out for that destination. A part of Vash appreciated the quiet, but it unnerved another part of him.

He was used to this place being energetic and loud, not…not this. If this was before, it would have set off alarm bells in his head. Now, it only made him tired.

He was nearly back to the shuttle when he noticed that there was someone following him.

“You really don’t have any experience hiding yourself from people on Gunsmoke, do you?” Vash called. “Might as well come out, Chronica.”

The blond woman stepped out of the shadows. “I didn’t feel you sense—“

“I don’t need to.”

The look on Chronica’s face almost suggested that she was impressed, but then she schooled herself into a more serious expression. “What are you doing with them?”

“Does it matter to you?” Vash raised an eyebrow. “They’re friends.”

“They are also alien beings on Earth territory – I understand that they came here to help, but they are starting to overstay their welcome.” Chronica’s eyes narrowed.

Vash shrugged. “I think they may be planning on leaving soon, but I can’t say when.”

“Well, _encourage_ them to leave soon. I doubt that their presence is needed here any longer.”

Chronica looked at Vash with a pointed look, then turned and walked away.

Vash watched her go for a moment, then turned and walked over to the shuttle.

Wildfire was waiting for him at the open entrance again, blue eyes glowing like they usually did.

“Chronica wants you guys to move soon,” Vash said.

“And what do you think?” Wildfire raised an eyebrow.

Vash shrugged. “I don’t hold any power over you. Knives is under surveillance by the local militia, he’s still alive thanks to Brad being on staff all the time. I’ll be seeing if I can get him out soon, but…” He shrugged again.

“But you still come to see us.” Wildfire started down towards Jolt’s workshop. Vash followed after her. “Why? You could just leave us and Maria as we are.”

“I could,” Vash admitted. “But….” He looked away as Wildfire looked back at him.

Wildfire looked at him for a moment, but then her expression softened. “You’re not the only one.”

Vash nodded. “Anything happen yet?”

“Not that we’ve noticed. Maria’s been…quiet, still. Jolt hasn’t seen any changes yet.”

Vash nodded. “It has been…what, a year-ish?”

“If your calendars say it’s been a year, then probably.” Wildfire shrugged.

As the two of them reached the workshop, they noticed that something was different.

Not only was the door wide open, but there was an unfamiliar human figure standing inside, talking with Jolt in front of Maria’s crystal.

“…would like her at the—“ Jolt cut himself off when he noticed Wildfire and Vash standing in the doorway, looking surprised. “Ah, there you are. I’ve been wondering when you were going to pop by.”

The other figure – a tall man with dark blue hair and wearing a mostly-red jacket with blue cuffs that turned into flames – turned as Jolt spoke and immediately locked his gaze with Vash.

Vash suddenly got the impression that the person he was looking at was far, _far_ older than he appeared – far older than Maria and Wildfire, even.

“You are Vash, I assume?” The man walked over and held his hand out. “Optimus Prime of Cybertron.”

“Uh…hi.” Vash accepted the handshake, blinking. “Are you a friend of…of Maria’s?”

“I am,” Optimus confirmed. “Although, my reason for arriving here was not because of Maria’s condition. It is time that you all returned to Cybertron and gave a report on what has happened here.”

Vash blinked in surprise. “You’ve having them leave now?”

Optimus nodded. “I fear that we have overstayed our welcome with you and your people here on this planet. I do not wish to make relations more strenuous than they likely have already become here.”

“Honestly, I think most of the stress is between Earth and Gunsmoke,” Wildfire pointed out with a slight wave of one hand. “I honestly don’t see why one or two of us couldn’t remain behind.”

“As much as you seem to like this planet, Wildfire, it would be best if we did not remain,” Optimus said pointedly. Wildfire sent him a glare in response.

“Y-you’ll at least let me know if Maria ever wakes up.”

Optimus looked over at Vash, eyebrows rising at the statement. After a moment, his expression became more kind, and he nodded. “Of course. I doubt that Maria would want to leave you in the dark on such matters.”

Vash gave a relieved grin in reply. “Thanks.”

**Time Break**

The Cybertronians left a few hours later without speaking with anyone else. Wolfwood was already gone, so anything First Aid might have wanted to say to him wasn’t said.

Livio was gone too, but that wasn’t all that much of an issue. He’d said his goodbyes the night before and then left to go ahead of Wolfwood.

Which really only left Meryl and Millie – who didn’t really know the Cybertronians well and were starting to look into other venues of employment – and Chronica, who definitely looked annoyed that the Cybertronians were leaving.

She sounded like it, too.

“What have you been doing with them.”

Vash looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. “They’re friends. What’s wrong with me visiting them to get away from all this?” He motioned to the other people in the bar who were cheering at him and calling for drinks to be served for him on their tab.

Chronica considered that, then let any other questions slide out of her mind when she picked up one of his mugs of bear and drank the whole thing in one gulp. She stumbled out of the bar not long after.

Apparently, being a light-weight was a Plant thing.


	32. Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter for this one! Whoo, what a ride this was! And it took four months to post it all, even with the "three times a week" schedule I set up for myself. Talk about a writing maniac, am I right?
> 
> I'm not done posting at this schedule, though! In a couple days, Maria will start her /next/ adventure, located within the realm of a cartoon that I've grown to become a /little/ obsessed with over the last few years. I'll bump down to posting once a week after a little while, though, so keep an eye out for that!
> 
> I'll see you on Tuesday with a Gravity Falls/Trigun crossover!

Finally, _finally,_ Vash and Knives were allowed to be left alone without an Earth soldier breathing down their necks every time Knives was out and about.

They elected to live outside of the bio domes, closer to Old December and Wolfwood’s orphanage than any other form of civilization. Knives knew enough about the technology that he was able to create two small biodomes of their own, with the resources given to them – one for things to eat, and one for things to experiment on.

The wood cabin sat between the two, looking innocent but with technology built into it to make Gunsmoke’s weather more bearable. And there the two Plants stayed.

Over time, the two of them started to become more of a local legend and less of a real presence. Most people didn’t look for them, which Knives was fine with, and Vash could travel about without fearing getting hunted down for autographs – or still-angry folks trying to get something of a bounty on his head. Those people were becoming more bed-ridden, more distracted with other parts of life, or just…passed on.

And Knives and Vash, like the rest of their kind, didn’t look like they’d aged a day.

It was one day when Vash came back from a trip around to the local outer cities when he found a familiar figure standing outside the front door of his cabin, looking it over.

“Wildfire?” Vash approached, blinking in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

Wildfire turned and smirked at Vash. “Hey, man. Glad to see you’re doing well.” She held out a hand, then clenched it into a loose fist.

Vash returned the fist bump. “Yeah. It’s been a few years. I thought that you guys had cleared out and weren’t coming back, though.”

“Well, we did. But something came up recently, and I decided to come back.” Wildfire shrugged. The smirk was still on her face.

Vash turned his head slightly, looking at Wildfire with a cautious expression. “What came up?”

Wildfire motioned for Vash to follow her, and she moved around the cabin. Vash followed after her, slow and cautious, not sure but at the same time hoping for what Wildfire was talking about—

And stopped short as soon as he turned the corner.

Maria was leaning against the side of the cabin, looking annoyed and tired. But she was _whole_ and she wasn’t sleeping in her little crystal core anymore. Her appearance was slightly different now too, it seemed – a different style of orange jacket, and her face, instead of looking like that of a teenager, seemed older and ageless at the same time.

The small amount of gray hair at her temples probably had something to do with that.

Maria finished a yawn she had been in the middle of and looked over as Wildfire approached. Her expression brightened as soon as she saw Vash, but she still looked like she had been woken early. “Vash. It’s good to see that you’re—“

Vash rushed over and gave Maria a fierce hug, cutting her off out of surprise.

“I’m glad that you’re okay.” Vash pulled back from the hug just enough so that he could see Maria’s face. “I thought you were gonna sleep for longer though.”

“I _was.”_ Maria made a face. “But _apparently_ everyone wanted me to be there in person for Joshua’s funeral – that is, _not_ as just my core – and Optimus made me wake up early. So I was there for that and then I was in stasis for as long as I could in order to get some more energy back. I _still_ feel like I should be asleep.” She yawned again.

“Well, maybe some…some sunbathing will do you some good?” Vash suggested with a hopeful look.

Maria shot him a look that suggested she was annoyed at the idea, but then the look softened into a smirk. “Yeah, maybe. Sounds like a good idea, actually.”

“See, I told you you’d like it better here than back on stuffy Cybertron.” Wildfire grinned, but then she gained an annoyed look. “But I’m gonna have to go back. Apparently, they _need_ me for things up there. Whatever that means.”

Maria snorted. “You get going then. I’ll be fine. I’ve got other people here to keep an eye on me.”

“Just make sure you check in once in a while, all right? Especially if anything comes up.” Wildfire poked Maria in her forehead. “I don’t want to hear by word of mouth that you’ve gone and disappeared again because another dimension needs you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Maria pushed Wildfire’s hand away. “Go on. I’ll let you know when I’m more awake, all right?”

Wildfire chuckled and ruffled Maria’s hair – getting a noise of complaint from the Reploid in response – before looking at Vash. “You’ll keep an eye on her? She’s basically your aunt at this point, you know.”

Vash nodded. “Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on her. No worries.”

“Good.” Wildfire gave a nod in response, then turned and walked away from the cabin. “Ratchet!”

A large, green portal with specs of blue and red appeared on the desert sand in front of Wildfire as she shifted to her Cybertronian form. She looked back and down at Vash and Maria. “Keep in touch. I mean it.”

“We get it!” Maria barked back.

Wildfire chuckled and shook her head, then walked through the giant portal, which closed shut behind her easily.

Maria yawned loudly. “I’m gonna go…climb up on the roof or somethin.’ I need sleep.”

“You look like it,” Vash replied. “Hang on – I’m gonna go get the ladder.”

“Thanks. I’m not planning on using _any_ of my tech for a long time.”

Knives came around the cabin carrying what looked like research notes and paused as soon as he saw Maria and Vash there.

Maria noticed him and sent him a deadpan expression. “Hello, Idiot.”

“…Aunt,” Knives replied, with a polite-yet-cold tone.

**Time Break**

For Maria, sleep was her first priority. And then it was planting strange berries from other worlds for them to use for food and medicine. Knives took some for experimentation, but for the most part the fruits were very quickly eaten or traded for other food and supplies from December. Vash was the one who went into town, mostly on account of the fact that Maria was technically _dead_ in this dimension now and Knives had decided that he didn’t want to interact very often with the people who might still remember him.

For quite some time, life was peaceful in its monotony.

That is, until something disturbed them.

Or, two some _ones._


End file.
